


My Merry Little Helper

by UrbanNightingale



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Elf!Naruto, Kissing, M/M, Original Character(s), Overhearing Sex, Super corny Christmas plot, ooc 'cause elves, santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-04 06:11:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 33,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5323520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UrbanNightingale/pseuds/UrbanNightingale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Santa Claus was real? What if his elves were, too? What if some of them were sent specifically to certain people in need? What if Naruto was sent to make Sasuke's life just a little bit better. </p><p>AU SasuNaru Christmas story. Not a literary masterpiece, just a little corny Chrismas fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally uploaded to my Fanfiction.net account as a sort of challenge to myself. I would write and upload a chapter each day of December up until the 24th (we celebrate Christmas on the 24th in Denmark - not on the 25th). For this reason, the chapters are quite short and the plot is not exactly mindblowingly brilliant but I still feel like it's an enjoyable fluffy read to get in the right Christmas spirit ;) 
> 
> Enjoy!

_London_

_Christmas Even 1992_

James Mason hadn’t expected much of his last Christmas. His wife Carol had passed a few years ago and ever since he had learned of his own terminal illness he’d accepted that he would soon join her. Having had a violent fight with their thirty-year-old son – his only living family - he had expected to spend this, his very last Christmas, all alone.

But that wasn’t the case, he thought smilingly as the chattering young boy sitting in the armchair across from his asked him yet another question. The boy didn’t look to be much older than 15, yet he’d shown up on James’ doorstep every day in the week leading up to Christmas Eve like he had nowhere else to go. The boy – Naruto, he’d introduced himself – had insisted on interviewing him about his life, about the war he’d been in, the friends he’d had, the story of his wife, the love of his life.

The intoxicating scent of cookies and biscuits had invaded his home and James happily inhaled the smell, making him remember every Christmas in the past. A _piing_ sounded from the kitchen, indicating the end of the biscuits’ baking time. Naruto excused himself and merrily jumped from the chair to remove them from the oven.

James smiled contently and leaned further back into his armchair, somewhat revived from reliving his whole life through the stories he’d told the boy who now returned with a tray of baked goods and mugs of hot cocoa.

“Here you go, Jimmy,” he grinned as he put a mug down in front of James. Somehow, Naruto had resorted to always calling him ‘Jimmy’ rather than James. It stirred odd feelings in the 76-year-old man. He hadn’t been called by that name since he was a little boy yet Naruto stubbornly stuck to using it.

“Thank you,” James smiled and took a sip from the mug. He gasped in shocked pleasure as the taste of the warm liquid made a flood of childhood memories crash over him like a giant wave of images. He felt everything he’d felt about Christmas as a child; the joy, the excitement, the expectations, the snow, the patient blue eyes of a blond boy who’d helped him get through a hard time. Eyes just like the ones staring at him somewhat adoringly.

The boy spent the rest of the evening making him relive every wonderful moment in his long life. When the boy left, James went to bed with a blissful smile on his face. He closed his eyes with a content sigh as he fell asleep, never to wake up again.


	2. Chapter 1

Sasuke could feel his brother’s glare at him from the moment they left the principal’s office. He tried his best to ignore it at first; resorting to just scowl from the passenger seat of the car. When the glaring didn’t stop he groaned loudly and turned to his brother.

“Shouldn’t you be watching the road while you’re driving?” he asked irritably. He was in a foul mood already and didn’t feel at all like listening to Itachi’s lecturing.

“I _should_. Just as you _should_ have kept your word about not getting kicked out of _yet another_ school!” Itachi spat and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. “Dammit, Sasuke. How hard can it be to _not_ get into fights?!”

Sasuke cringed at the harsh tone. He really had tried. It was just… he was having a lot more trouble controlling his temper than he used to. It had been a horrible year, having to adjust to not have any parents anymore, having to accept that it was just going to be him and Itachi. He just couldn’t stop himself from losing his temper whenever he heard a classmate complain about their parents. He couldn’t help becoming hostile and aggressive towards any teacher or counselor who tried to fill his parents’ place to make him feel better.

Itachi sighed in frustration as Sasuke didn’t answer. This was the fifth time this year he’d been called to a principal’s office to receive the message that his little brother had been expelled. He’d tried talking to the younger Uchiha several times but the other refused to open up.

The car drove up the driveway and pulled to a stop. Sasuke wasted no time escaping the vehicle to go hide in the giant house. He should probably feel grateful that their parents had left them enough money to keep the mansion-like house, yet he just felt horribly depressed living there without them. The house was far too big for just two people; it felt empty.

He hurried to his room, locking the door to keep Itachi from lecturing him any further. He threw himself down on his bed, curled into a ball and buried his head deep into the pillow. He felt like screaming but somehow couldn’t find the strength to get the sound out of his throat. This was his life now. He was just going to live in this frustrating circle of new schools and expels. He was going to keep disappointing his brother with his lack of control.

He lifted his head to check the calendar on the wall. _December 1 st,_ it read. His eyes stung. Christmas was nearing. The first Christmas without his parents. He wasn’t quite sure how he was ever going to survive it. Christmas was a time for traditions, meaning that it was far too noticeable when something was different. When something was missing. He closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep. He just wanted this day to end already.

 

_~They were fighting again. His father was once again arguing loudly with Itachi. Their mother defended her son, her piercing yells cutting through the walls and entering Sasuke’s room. It was far too much for the five-year-old to handle and he crawled into hiding underneath his bed. He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened one upon hearing light footsteps in his room. A pair of feet became visible from his hiding spot._

_“Sasuke?” a clear voice called him. A voice he’d grown to know. A voice of comfort. “Sasu-chan, you can come out now. You won’t be hearing them now.”_

_Sasuke listened and realized that he couldn’t hear a single thing from outside his bedroom. He slowly made his way out from under the bed. He looked up to see the friendly face of the person who’d made the last couple of months more bearable. Clear blue eyes eyed him with affection and caring while a warm smile adorned the friendly face of the older boy._

_“Naruto?” He wondered when the boy had come. The other always seemed to just show up whenever he felt like it. “It’s gone?”_

_Naruto nodded and offered a hand to Sasuke. The little boy took the teenager’s hand and allowed the other to lead him to the door. He gasped in fear, not wanting to face his fighting family. Naruto smiled reassuringly and Sasuke felt his fear vanish. The blond opened the door and the two left the room._

_Sasuke’s eyes widened. Upon leaving his room he wasn’t entering the hallway he usually found outside of it. He found himself standing in a field of colorful flowers. Clouds of glowing butterflies flew around in ever-changing patterns. He felt a big smile appear on his face. The entire place was just so… magical. He spun around to see Naruto watch him with a pleased smile on his face. ”Can we stay here?” he asked the blond with wide eyes. The other nodded smilingly. “As long as you want, Sasu-chan. This is all for you.” ~_

 

Sasuke woke up with a start. A warm feeling of a strange sense of comfort spread within him. He ran a hand through his dark locks. What was that dream? It had felt so real. Like he could _feel_ the grass underneath his feet. Like he could reach out and touch the butterflies around of him. Like he knew the owner of those warm caring blue eyes. He almost felt like he could believe it had actually happened. Like he could believe in the existence of that kind of magic.

 

_~Meanwhile~_

Naruto placed the wooden box carefully on the table in front of him. He sensibly removed the lid and smiled upon seeing the colorful collection of glass balls. A few of them glowed back at him whilst most of them held no light at all anymore. Too many years had passed for them to still contain enough magic. He gently lifted a green one, the light within it had gone out years ago. He held the orb in front of his right eye and smiled as he could see the image of a blonde woman singing to the little girl in her arms.

“Ah, Suzy,” he sighed. “Look how well you turned out. Taking such good care of your little Amy.”

He kissed the glass ball and lovingly put it back into the box, only to take up another. Upon looking into it, he frowned. Nothing. He shook his head in sadness. Juan wasn’t alive anymore it would seem.

“Too bad,” Naruto said to himself. “He was such a good boy.”

In the corner of his eye something caught his attention. A red orb that hadn’t been glowing for almost ten years suddenly began blinking weakly. He cautiously lifted the ball to his eye and smiled as he recognized the sleeping black-haired teenager.

“Sasu-chan,” he smiled. “Seems you need me around again.” He jumped off the chair and snapped his fingers, a long parchment list materialized in front of his face.

“Well, I don’t have any assignments right now, it seems,” he grinned. “No worries, Sasuke. I’m on my way!”


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for Sasuke swearing in this one, I guess. Teenagers and their filthy mouths...

Sasuke woke up at the sound of the front door slamming loudly. He groaned. He knew he deserved to be punished but did Itachi really have to be that noisy when going to work in the morning? He buried his head into the soft pillow. He closed his eyes but sighed irritably after a while, realizing he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Running a lazy hand through his hair, he glanced around his room and nearly felt his heart stop beating upon the sight of the figure sitting on the edge of his bed.

He yelled loudly in surprise and jumped, flinching as his back met the wall behind him. The boy sitting on his bed smiled back at him, vibrant blue eyes watching him carefully.

“Who the hell are you?!!” Sasuke yelled, truly fearing for his sanity. _He’d locked the door!_ How the hell would someone be able to enter his room? “And how the fuck did you get in here?!”

The boy grinned. “I’m disappointed, Sasu-chan. To think you don’t remember me. Oh, well. I guess ten years is a long time for humans.”

_A long time humans?_   Well, if Sasuke wasn’t crazy then that guy sure as hell was! How had he gotten into his room? Was he going to hurt him? Sasuke eyed the boy. Though the blond appeared to be around his age, he was rather petite. Sasuke decided that he’d probably stand a pretty good chance against the weirdo if he attacked.

Then he realized just what the boy had called him. _Sasu-chan?_ It was freaky enough that the intruder knew his name – but why on Earth would he call him _Sasu-chan??_ No one called him that! In fact no one had used that name since he was a little kid. He shook his head angrily, feeling his temper rise again.

“Don’t call me that!” he yelled. “And answer the questions!”

The boy tilted his head to the side and eyed him patiently. “My name is Naruto. I’m here to help you. And as for how I got in I don’t think you’re ready to understand it yet.”

_He’s crazy_ , Sasuke concluded but calmed a bit as the boy in front of him didn’t look to be aggressive. In fact, he kept a friendly smile in place as he continued to sit calmly across from him. Sasuke shook his head in confusion. He had to get the freak out of his house. He thought about how Itachi would feel if he came home to see that Sasuke had been in another fight. Now that wouldn’t be pretty. He should probably try to talk the blond into leaving voluntarily.

“Help me how?” he asked carefully, straining himself to make his voice less aggressive. Naruto’s head shot up and a wide grin spread across his face.

“That’s what I’m here to find out!” Naruto exclaimed proudly. “You needed me and I’m here to help! Tell me what’s wrong, Sasu-chan!”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Sasuke answered calmly as he did his best not to respond to the childish nickname. He slowly slid out of bed to find some clothes. “There’s no real reason for you to be here if it’s to help me.”

He turned his back on the boy to search through his drawer for a fresh pair of jeans. He gasped in shock as a pair of arms encircled his middle. He froze as he heard Naruto’s voice from behind him.

“You can tell me what’s wrong, Sasu-chan. You don’t have to lie to me. You don’t have to be sad.”

Sasuke stood, still frozen, until the arms around his middle disappeared. He turned around to look at the other. He could have sworn he’d heard those words – spoken in that voice – before. Naruto flashed him a soothing smile and Sasuke found it hard to stay alert. There was just such a strong aura of trustworthiness around the blond. He didn’t think he could continue to see him as a threat.

Putting on a shirt he looked around the room for an idea of what time it was. He found his phone lying on the floor by the window. Picking it up he noticed it wasn’t even noon yet. He hated getting up before noon when he’d got nothing to do all day. When you’ve got nothing to do the day is just far too long already, no need to make it even longer by getting up early.

His stomach growled and briefly remembered that he hadn’t eaten dinner the night before. He decided to make himself some breakfast, seeing as he’d already decided Naruto wasn’t an actual threat, just weird. He walked past the blond who stood were he’d left him by the drawer. Walking down the hallway, he heard the other’s light footsteps. The sound of such light treating seemed oddly familiar, like a lot of things about Naruto did.

As he entered the kitchen he noticed a small note on the fridge. ‘ _Make something useful of yourself and buy some tomatoes and garlic for the dinner tonight’._ A neat stack of money was held to the fridge by that one magnet that was significantly stronger than the other ones, the ugly brown magnet. Tomatoes and garlic? Damn, Sasuke thought, Italian again.

Naruto hummed a cheerful Christmas tune as he sat himself on one of the chairs. In the bright light of the kitchen Sasuke had a much clearer view of the smaller boy. He really was quite petite, he noted again, yet not in a frail way as he’d assumed. Everything about Naruto seemed to glow with health and energy. His yellow-blond hair fell down to his blue eyes, making them look even bluer in comparison. He was actually quite attractive, he thought as he eyed the boy.

Naruto seemed very much at home where he was as his eyes followed Sasuke pouring himself a bowl of cereal. Looking at back at Naruto, Sasuke found the blond eating a big piece of cake off a golden plate.

“Where did you get that?” he asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow. He was quite sure they didn’t have any gilded plates in the house and he _knew_ there wasn’t even a crumb of cake to be found. Itachi was a total health freak and Sasuke just wasn’t really a fan of sweets.

Naruto grinned smugly and winked. “Secret.”

Sasuke couldn’t quite keep a smile off his face at the sight and shook his head dismissively to hide it. Sasuke put his breakfast down on the table and began eating while watching Naruto consume his cake with a face radiant with satisfaction.

“So,” Naruto began after making the last bite of cake disappear. “What are we doing today?”  Sasuke wanted to yell to the other that _they_ weren’t doing anything but nothing about Naruto’s behavior told him that he was willing to leave anytime soon.

“Well, I have to buy some groceries for my brother it seems,” he shrugged. “Might as well buy some lunch for later, too.”

“Great! Sounds like fun!” Naruto grinned. Sasuke snorted at the display of enthusiasm but smiled back anyway. It was hard to stay annoyed with the other.

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment before carefully asking. “Didn’t there used to be more people in this house?” Sasuke stilled and moved his eyes to stare into the kitchen counter. Naruto noticed the change in mood immediately.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, voice laced with compassion. Then he whispered something to himself, making Sasuke lift his head to study the other. Naruto was watching him with sad, understanding eyes. Sasuke sighed and put the now empty bowl in the sink.

“Come on. I want to get to the grocery shop before everyone else does,” he mumbled and left the kitchen to put on a warm jacket and some shoes. Naruto followed him outside, having apparently been wearing shoes all along. Sasuke eyed the boy walking next to him. Wouldn’t he be cold with just a long-sleeved t-shirt? Naruto didn’t look to be affected by the cold December weather at all. He merrily chattered about nothing in particular as he walked by Sasuke’s side. As he studied the blond, Sasuke noticed something odd about the boy’s appearance as the wind blew his hair around; Naruto had strange, pointy ears.

He also had an annoying habit of greeting everyone they passed with a pleasant hello – old people and children especially. Sasuke had never been a social person and considered every stranger a potential thief, trouble maker or just plain irritating – and so it was very unusual for him to meet the eyes of so many strangers on their way to the store. Upon reaching the store he turned to the blond with a stern look on his face.

“You, stay here. I’ll be right back,” he commanded the other. Naruto just shrugged and sat himself on a bench next to the shopping carts. Sasuke went inside and ignored the feeling of guilt for having abandoned Naruto outside. He searched the isles for the vegetable section and found the tomatoes and garlic needed to get his brother off his back. Now he just needed something he could eat for lunch. He wondered if he should get something for Naruto as well. He could just leave the other sitting outside the store, find another way home and abandon the pushy little blond for good. Then again, having Naruto around was the closest thing to friendly contact with another person he’d had since his parents died.

Walking through the store he noticed some cup-noodles and decided that it would do just fine for lunch. He picked two, assuming that Naruto would still be around for lunch.

He walked out of the store only to find that Naruto wasn’t where he’d left him. He felt a stir of unease in his stomach at the thought of spending the rest of the day alone. He glanced around confusedly and was relieved to find a mess of blond hair on the other side of the street, sitting on another bench with an elderly lady next to him.

Sasuke crossed the street to walk up to the two. The old woman was talking vividly, arms flaring uncharacteristically youthful around her as she committed herself fully to whatever story she was telling Naruto. She paused for a moment when she noticed Sasuke standing behind Naruto.

“Continue,” Naruto urged her. “What happened next?” Her eyes widened, as did her smile.

“Then, my boy, Elvis told me to get up on stage with him! He gave me a rose, he did! It was the most wonderful day of my life!” she finished her story.

Sasuke’s eyes widened as she spoke. Her skin was suddenly glowing – literally glowing - like she was bathed in sunshine. He looked frantically to Naruto, expecting the other to be as shocked as he was. Naruto just smiled fondly and held a hand to a spot on his chest that had begun to glow as well.

And then it was all over. The old lady blinked away a happy tear before adoringly placing a wrinkled hand on Naruto’s cheek.

“Thank you for listening to my story,” she said tenderly. “You’re an angel.” Then she kissed Naruto’s forehead and energetically got off the bench, waving as she walked away. Naruto stared after her, still smiling, before turning his attention back to Sasuke. Sasuke felt a new feeling of recognition towards the blond. The blond with the ability to enter a locked room, know his name, make cake appear out of nowhere, have weirdly pointed ears and make old ladies glow.

“Are you?” Sasuke couldn’t stop himself from asking. Naruto looked confused. “An angel,” he clarified.

Naruto laughed and studied his face closely before shaking his head with a smile.

“No,” he laughed. “But I think you’re ready to know about me. You’re ready to understand. You’re ready to believe in magic again.”

Sasuke was confused. He looked at Naruto, seriously considering just turning around and walking away. The blond might have been smiling but there was a serious gleam in his eyes. Maybe Sasuke shouldn’t completely disregard his theory of Naruto being insane. Then again, hadn’t he _just_ seen him make an old lady glow? Hadn’t he managed to get into Sasuke’s room even though the door had been locked? Sasuke shook his head. He was really, really weirded out.

“Fine then. Explain,” he said gesturing with his hand for the other to continue. Naruto grinned mischievously before shaking his head.

“Sorry, Sasu-chan. Not in public. Why don’t I meet you back at your home?” Naruto said and before Sasuke could say anything to protest the blond kissed his cheek, his finger began to glow and he drew a circle of light around himself, and with a windy _whoosh_ Naruto had vanished.

 


	4. Chapter 3

Sasuke starred at the spot Naruto had been standing in for a full fifteen minutes as he was completely dumbstruck by the disappearance of Naruto. Forcing himself out of his frozen state, Sasuke began returning to his house, hoping Naruto would be there as promised. The trip back seemed an awful lot longer than Sasuke thought it should. It hadn’t felt as long the other way, perhaps because Naruto had kept him company. He absentmindedly brought his hand up to touch the spot on his cheek that Naruto had kissed before leaving; as if that spot was proof that the existence of Naruto was more than just in his head.

He returned to the house and noted that the door was just as locked as he’d left it. He entered the house and listened for any noise that might indicate whether or not Naruto was there. He left the groceries on the kitchen counter and went to his room to see if he had company. And sure enough, Naruto sat casually on his bed like he had that same morning.

Naruto greeted him with a fond smile and patted the spot next to him. Sasuke eyed him cautiously before once more being overwhelmed by the feeling that Naruto was no threat, making him sit down. Maybe that was a magic trick of the blond’s as well. He raised a questioning eyebrow at Naruto to indicate he was ready to listen. The boy nodded smilingly.

“How much do you remember from when you were little? Like 5 or 6 years old?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke looked back at him in confusion, though trying his best to think back due to the expression on Naruto’s face. He tried to remember something from back then. It was back when there had been some major issues in his father’s company, which had led him to be pretty much fuming whenever he got home, which had made him yell and fight with their mother and Itachi, which frightened 5-year-old Sasuke into hiding from the rest of the family, which was when things got better somehow … because of someone special.

Sasuke’s eyes widened with realization. He _knew_ why Naruto was familiar! Naruto had been there. He remembered his dream; a pretty blond boy taking him away from all his worries and bringing him to a field of flowers and butterflies.

“You were there!” he exclaimed, somwhat accusingly. “When they were fighting? Weren’t you?”

Naruto beamed proudly at him and nodded. “I sure was! Now, what do you remember from the Christmas stories of your childhood?”

“Christmas stories?” Sasuke asked, taken aback by the question. “Like Santa Claus and stuff.”

Naruto nodded, eagerly bouncing on the bed, looking quiet cute and endearing in Sasuke’s own private opinion. “Exactly like that! What do you remember?”

“Um, Santa Claus lives on the North Pole* with his elves. And every Christmas Eve he journeys out in his sleigh with his flying reindeer to bring presents for all the well-behaved children of the world?” He finished, sounding like he was asking a question.

Naruto was positively beaming with eagerness at this point which at least made him feel less stupid about explaining the deal with Santa Claus like it was fact. “Wait, this has something to do with you?” he asked, feeling more than a bit ridiculous.

“Absolutely!” Naruto exclaimed and lifted some hair to show a pointy ear. And then the pieces fell into place within Sasuke.

“You’re one of Santa’s elves?” he asked incredulously. “No way...”

“Believe it!” Naruto grinned. Sasuke eyed the boy with renewed interest then shook his head. This was so not happening. He must have injured his head in that fight at school. But something had to be true about it. He’d _seen_ Naruto’s tricks, and he was almost certain he remembered Naruto from when he was younger.

“I’ve known you before?” he asked. Naruto nodded. “Why?”

“Well, you see. Mr. Santa needs a lot of magic to keep things running and the best source of magic he gets from us, the elves, who obtain magic by spreading joy and happiness. The North Pole – or Yule Land, as we call it – hands us assignments like sad children, suicidal adults or other people in need. We go out to the assignments and work our butts off to make them happy. Though, most of our assignments are children since their belief in our existence is what makes Santa able to visit the places they live in,” Naruto explained. “You were my assignment, like, 10 years ago.”

No matter how childish and sappy Naruto’s explanation had sounded, his words had awoken memories within him. He remembered now! When he was 5 years old, a boy claiming to work for Santa himself had shown up in his room and stayed with him for a year until his father’s company was doing better and the tone around the house had turned for the better. He remembered being taken to the magic field, being hugged closely when scared, being told stories. He remembered Naruto bringing him hot cocoa, making it snow for him and bringing his stuffed animals to live.  

“You made it snow,” Sasuke said, somehow mostly to himself at the memory. Naruto grinned and got off the bed. He made his way to the window and lifted his now glowing hand to bring it across the surface of the glass. “Like this?” he laughed. Sasuke got up, gazed out the window and gaped at the sight of snow beginning to fall.

“Impossible,” Sasuke muttered and smiled in amusement. “But you said I _was_ your assignment. Not that I am?”

Naruto fidgeted awkwardly with his hair. “Well, you’re not anymore. Technically. But we all do it!” he justified. “We can’t help keeping an eye on our kids. And if we see you need us again… well, we can’t just sit by and do _nothing_.”He looked sadly at Sasuke, like the thought of abandoning him to himself was like leaving a newborn out in a blizzard.

“Even if that’s what Accounting wants us to do,” he added in distasteful afterthought.

“Accounting?” Sasuke asked in bafflement.

“Yeah, they’re the elves that keep track of the incoming magic versus how much Santa needs. They’ve technically forbidden us to revisit our past kids. They say it’s a waste of time that could be spend on new assignments,” Naruto spat angrily, seemingly furious at the mere idea of it. “But that’s just because they’ve never been in the field. They have no idea how hard it is to bond that closely to someone, and then just move on to the next. I don’t know a single Do-Good’er who doesn’t keep an eye on their kids!”

“… do-good’er?”

“Oh, sorry. That’s my job. I’m a Do-Good’er. I visit Earth and do good things to make people happy.”

Sasuke was sort of fascinated by Naruto’s fierce justification for visiting him. Naruto made it sound like he really cared for Sasuke, though it kind of disturbed him to fall into the category of Naruto’s “Kids”. The elf was watching him carefully as if reading him in the search for a sign of how he was responding to all of his explanation.

“Sasu-chan? How are you feeling?” he asked carefully as he sat down closely next to Sasuke. He leaned his head on Sasuke’s shoulder and looked up at him with big eyes.

“I’m feeling alright. Confused but alright,” Sasuke answered honestly. He was a bit taken aback by the intensity of the blue in Naruto’s eyes. Before he could stop himself he removed a lock of blond hair away from the elf’s face, then he quickly retrieved his hand and asked how long Naruto was going to stay to divert the attention to something else.

“Well, I _wanna_ stay for as long as you need me, which judging from how you’re dealing with the deaths of your parents might take a while, but I’ll probably have to leave from time to time on other assignments, and for Christmas I’ll have to go back to Yule Land to lend my powers to Santa for a few nights.”

Sasuke nodded, pretending to understand. “Well, I guess I could explain to my brother tha-“

“Sasuke, have you seen my charger?” Itachi asked loudly as he forcefully opened the door to his room. Sasuke tried to think fast, to come up with a way to explain Naruto. Should he say he was a friend from an old school who needed a place to stay? That he was homeless?

Apparently, he didn’t need to think of anything as Itachi was only looking at him, not sparing Naruto a single glance. “It’s on the coffee table?” he said confusedly, then looked to Naruto.

“He can’t see me, Sasu-chan,” Naruto said quietly. “I’m blinding him with my magic.”

Itachi nodded and was about to leave before looking back at Sasuke. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“Um, yeah. Terrific,” Sasuke answered awkwardly. “Just tired.” Itachi eyed him suspiciously but left to find his charger before leaving the house again to go back to work. Sasuke turned his attention back to Naruto.

“So… lunch?”

* * *

 

As it turned out, buying Naruto noodles was a great idea. The elf was grinning from ear to ear as he gulped down the food in front of them.

“This, is the most brilliant food I’ve ever tasted!” he announced excitedly. “I almost only eat sweets but this, this I could get used to!”

Sasuke smiled at the blond. He could get used to having Naruto around. It was nice to be around someone that friendly, someone who didn’t judge. Someone whose eyes held nothing by fondness and friendliness. Itachi might do his best not to voice most of his judgments (until Sasuke got expelled again) but friendly he was not.

After eating Naruto snapped his finger, making the mess clean up itself, and dragged Sasuke out to enjoy the snow he’d made for him. As it turned out, Naruto was quite skilled in snow fighting and Sasuke got to spend the rest of the day shivering from being buried in snow, though with the added bonus of the elf curling up to him to keep him warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Note on the North Pole thing: Okay, I realize that Santa lives different places according to different countries' lore. I’m from Denmark myself. We tell kids he lives in Greenland. It’s just that seeing as most Christmas movies and stories are American it’s easier to just go along with that one XD Especially seeing as Greenland isn’t as hard to explore as the North Pole. So yeah, in this story that’s what we’ll be assuming Sasuke heard as a kid.


	5. Chapter 4

Eating dinner with Itachi without behaving differently from normal was unexpectedly difficult. His eyes kept drifting to the blond elf sitting by the window, humming Christmas carols. Itachi didn’t seem to notice, though. He appeared to be caught up in thoughts and barely touched his food. It wasn’t uncommon for the two brothers to eat in silence yet this evening the muteness was far too heavy, which might be the reason Naruto insisted on his quiet humming.

After finishing his dinner, Sasuke hurriedly cleared the table and headed to his room. Naruto was already waiting for him as he entered his bedroom, sitting patiently on the windowsill. Sasuke sat down on the small couch and turned on his TV.

“… whilst the snow that no one saw coming continues to fall,” the weatherman announced with an astonished expression on his face. Sasuke eyed Naruto. Of course the shift in weather hadn’t gone unnoticed by those whose job it was to keep track of the meteorological conditions.

“Maybe you should stop the snow now,” Sasuke hinted amusedly. “Before more people than just the weather guy starts sensing something different.”

Naruto grinned and once more ran a glowing hand across the surface of the window. Almost instantly, the snowing stopped and Sasuke took in the sight of the fairytale-like snowy landscape outside his window. He smiled. He’d always been very fond of snow; it was just so… pure and magical. Naruto was watching him with an affectionate smile on his face. Maybe he’d been right about the bonding. Naruto sure did seem to like Sasuke, the way he liked to sit close to him while watching TV, commenting on the shows Sasuke liked now compared to when he was little.

As the night progressed Naruto’s continuing chatter subdued as the elf slowly dozed off to the sound of the TV. Sleeping on Sasuke’s shoulder, Naruto seemed to have drifted into a world of sound sleep. Even though he was fairly comfortable lying close to Naruto on the couch, Sasuke felt obligated to leave the warmth of the elf to get ready for bed. He searched through the closets around the house for a spare blanket. As he didn’t find one in one of the closets in the hall outside his room, he went downstairs.

The lights were on in the kitchen and Sasuke neared the door slowly as he tried to make as little noise as possible. He could he the faint sound of Itachi’s voice coming from the kitchen. Peeking through the doorway he saw his brother with his phone to his ear.

“… I can’t be there by four… because I have to work… _yes,_ I _have_ to work… because my brother’s too young to work for his own money, alright?” Itachi spoke in a low voice. “I know, I’ll be with you as soon as I can, okay? … sure, I will. Since you ask so nicely.”

Itachi’s way of talking was far different from what Sasuke usually heard from him. Usually it was stoic, judging, or slightly overbearing. Now, it sounded _flirty_? Sasuke wasn’t sure what to make of it. He knew Itachi had once been dating, before their parents’ accident. Sasuke had even seen the guy a day he’d been spying on him. But now, now Itachi’s life was pretty much evenly divided between work and home - well, work and home and Sasuke’s schools’ offices.

Sasuke shook his head and backed away slowly to give his brother some privacy. After finally discovery the hiding place of the spare blanket he headed back to his room to put it on top of the sleeping elf. Looking down at Naruto he couldn’t help but smile at the display of utter serenity. When he’d been staring for long enough at his snoozing visitor for it to cross into creepy-territory, he went to go to sleep himself.

* * *

  _The rain was pouring hard at the windows of the rapidly moving car as they were driving home from the dinner party. Sasuke was fidgeting with his phone as he tried to get a better signal in order to keep playing on of his favorite online games. From the passenger seat his mother was merrily sharing the gossip she’d received about her friend’s impending divorce. His father nodded at appropriate times whilst still keeping most of his focus on the road ahead._

_Suddenly, his mother yelled out in shocked fear and Sasuke looked up from his phone just in time to see the approaching lights of the forthcoming car as it rammed into their vehicle. The car spun out of control and his head was banged into the side of the window. He lost his sight at the contact and felt the world spin as he heard a faint sobbing. His world was turning completely dark yet he tried to hold on to consciousness to return to the voice of his mother frantically calling his name._

_“Mom!” he cried out. He wanted to feel for her but failed to move his arms. “MOM!”_

_“Sasuke?” The voice did not belong to his mother. It belonged to someone else, someone just as soothing. He called out to his mother once more in a last futile attempt to reach her even though he knew from memory that he would never hear her voice again._

“Sasuke!” He was shaken awake and stared into the worried face of Naruto. His face felt wet and he touched a hand to his eyes to wipe away the tears. He sat up slowly and briefly noted how close Naruto was sitting to him, their noses almost touching. He let his head fall down to Naruto’s shoulder as the tears began to fall down his cheeks again. He should feel embarrassed but comforting presence of Naruto wiped such emotions from his mind entirely.The elf slid his arms around him and pulled him closer while whispering soothing words into his ear.

“It’s okay, Sasu-chan,” he whispered. “It’s gonna be okay. I promise.”

Sasuke shook his head into the other’s shoulder. How could things possibly ever be okay again? His mother’s last cries still echoed within his head and he could still feel the despair of his immobility. He put his own arms around Naruto and allowed himself to be held close. To feel small and weak for a moment.

“Was it your parents?” Naruto asked as he ran a hand through Sasuke’s dark hair. Sasuke nodded. “What happened to them, Sasuke?”

“Car accident. We were driving home from my aunt’s annual dinner party. It was raining a lot and my father didn’t see the car until it hit us,” he explained. “Father died instantly, they say. Mom… she died in the ambulance.”

Naruto kissed his hair whenever his voice broke and hugged him closer, albeit somewhat awkwardly as Sasuke was a lot bigger now than he was a kid. He was taller and broader than Naruto but it didn’t stop the elf from holding him as he was caught up in the worst moment of his life.

“I’m so sorry,” Naruto said with big eyes as he maneuvered Sasuke back down on the pillow. The blond was about to move away but Sasuke caught his wrist.

“Stay, please.”

He wasn’t ready to be left alone just yet. He hadn’t truly realized how lonely he’d been in his sorrow. He hadn’t really opened up to anyone, hadn’t allowed anyone to see him like this, weak and broken. Now that he thought back, he couldn’t recall Naruto ever denying him anything he’d asked, and sure enough the elf crawled under the covers next to him.

“Anything you need,” Naruto whispered and placed his head by Sasuke’s neck. Sasuke let his arms resume their position around the smaller one. He inhaled the scent of the other and sighed contently at the aroma of cinnamon and sugar. He heard the faint sound of Naruto humming another tune and slowly he drifted back to sleep, a sound and dreamless sleep.


	6. Chapter 5

Once again, the loud sound of Itachi slamming the door woke up Sasuke. He groaned in frustration and tried to bury his head into his pillow. Then he realized it was far too hairy to be a pillow. His eyes opened and widened as he took in the sight of Naruto curled up against him, head resting under Sasuke’s chin. The blond’s arms were encircled tightly around his waist and their legs were somewhat entwined. As he moved his head to look catch a glimpse of the clock on the wall, Naruto whined quietly and nuzzled his face even deeper into Sasuke’s neck. Sasuke chuckled and wondered if all elves were that adorable.

Suddenly Naruto’s eyes shot open and the little elf sat up quickly. “What’s wrong?” Sasuke asked him groggily. Naruto snapped his fingers and a long list of names materialized in front of his face. He maneuvered down the list by moving his finger hovering over it, much like Sasuke would maneuver down the touch screen of his smartphone.

“Work,” Naruto answered as he reached the last name on the list. “It seems Accounting has sent me a new assignment. 7-year-old Louise Klausen. Her dad’s a soldier away in Afghanistan and her mother’s about to go on a cruise for the holidays without her.”

Naruto caught the look of abandonment on Sasuke’s face and quickly added, “It probably won’t take long! I just need to get her on that cruise… and possibly try to get her father home in time for Christmas. No biggie.”

Sasuke nodded but still felt like pouting, only being stopped by his Uchiha genes. He wasn’t starting a new school until January and Naruto was pretty much the only person around to talk to. But of course he realized that that little girl needed Naruto, like he’d needed him when _he_ was little. He knew that Naruto wasn’t even supposed to be with him now. Naruto was supposed to be working, making other people happy rather than just Sasuke. He just hoped the Do-Good’er would be back soon.

Naruto got off the bed snapped his fingers, changing his clothes into an orange parka jacket and black jeans with warm boots. He eyed Sasuke, still lying on the bed. The elf skipped back to his side and put a hand on his cheek. “I’ll be back as soon as I possibly can, ‘kay?”

Sasuke smiled weakly as Naruto drew a glowing circle around himself and disappeared. He resolved to stare at the TV, stopping after half an hour as he realized it wasn’t on. He sighed irritable and got out of bed to begin his daily search for clean clothes. He briefly wished he could just snap his fingers and then be dressed, like Naruto, but sadly that was not the case and he groaned as he realized he was running out of clean jeans. That left him with the black skinny jeans, and while they did make him look amazing they were also _very_ uncomfortable. As he began the putting-on-skinny-jeans-dance he tripped on a can of hairspray on the floor and yelped as he fell to the ground.

“Well, fuck you, too, World,” he spat out to his room and awkwardly got off the floor. To make up for the tightness of the jeans he picked out a somewhat loose hoodie over a tank top. Rather than doing the laundry, he instead spend the afternoon shopping for new jeans.

When he returned to the house he was carrying several plastic bags filled with jeans. He’d probably spent more money than he should have but it was at least a way to pass time when there was absolutely nothing else to do – he still didn’t consider doing the laundry an option.

He spent about an hour after lunch reorganizing his drawers to make room for the new clothes. After that he tried reading a book but found himself too distracted to actually take in the words. He stared longingly at the spot on his bed where Naruto’d slept. Had Naruto ever left _him_ to go to past assignments when he was little? He wasn’t sure he remembered. The memories were all fuzzy. It did seem as if they became clearer when he tried to focus really hard on them.

He lay down on his couch and closed his eyes as he willed his mind to remember. At first he remembered fragments; the scent of cinnamon and cocoa, an endearing laughter, snowflakes. Then as he focused on those fragments he got actual memories.

_“…He jumped back in surprise as an older boy appeared in front of him. “Hello, my name’s Naruto.”………_

_…..…he absolutely had to see them, he jumped into the elf’s lap and removed the blond hair and gasped in amazement as he saw the pointy ears…_

_…..… “We never get a white Christmas around here. I wish it would snow,” he whined to the elf who was watching cartoons with him. Naruto smiled fondly and went to stand by the window. “That can be arranged.” …_

_…..… “You’re leaving?!” he couldn’t believe his ears. Naruto couldn’t just leave! He needed him! Said boy eyed him with deep sadness in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Sasu-chan, but it’s going to be okay.” “HOW?” The sadness in Naruto’s eyes deepened. “You’ll grow up. You’ll stop believing. And that means you’ll stop remembering, too.”…_

 

When he opened his eyes again, his heart was beating rapidly. He finally felt like he remembered everything. He remembered Naruto showing up, he remembered the things he’d done for him and he remembered when he’d left. He ran an idle hand through his hair and pressed a button on his phone to see the time. He frowned it was almost dinner time and from the sound of it Itachi wasn’t even home yet. He got off his couch and began searching through the house to confirm that no, Itachi had indeed not come home. He dialed his brother’s number on his cell and felt dizzy as a robotic voice let him know that the phone couldn’t be reached.

It might be a bit of an overreaction as he panicked but ever since the passing of his parents he’d been very conscious of every possible scenario causing his brother to be late – and quite a few of them involved him being dead. Itachi _knew_ how paranoid he was about such things and _always_ called him when he was running late. He paced around the house restlessly, redialing over and over. Itachi might be lying in a ditch somewhere. He could have been in an accident. He could have been mugged. He could ha-

“Sasu-chan?” he turned quickly at the sound of Naruto’s voice. Naruto eyed him cautiously. “What’s wrong?”

Sasuke shook his head dismissively. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Itachi’s just not home yet. He usually is at this time. But it’s probably nothing.” Naruto nodded understandingly.

“I’m sure you’re right,” he smiled and sat himself in a chair by the dinner table. Sasuke decided to take dinner into his own hands and called a local pizzeria. When the food showed up he couldn’t help but feel irrationally disappointed that it wasn’t his brother standing outside the door.

Naruto kept a pleasant stream of talking going in an obvious attempt to distract Sasuke from being worried about Itachi. In order to at least try to think about something else he decided to address something that had been bothering him.

“What did you mean when you said I’d stop remembering you? The day you left. What did that mean?” he asked and watched as the elf froze and looked up at him with big puppy eyes.

“You’ve been remembering while I was gone, huh?” he laughed humorlessly. “Well, it’s a way of concealing ourselves and a way of relieving our kids of any stress that might come from us leaving. We tie the memories of us to magic. When you grow up you’re constantly introduced to logical explanations to everything. So, naturally most kids stop believing in magic at some point. As did you. And when there’s no belief left in you, there are no memories either.”

Naruto kept his eyes on his pizza as he talked. Sasuke watched him with newfound awe. Maybe it really was difficult to leave someone you’d grown to care about, especially when they didn’t even remember you anymore. Like it never happened. It made a bit more sense why Naruto and the other Do-Good’ers weren’t able to let go of their connections with the kids. If _they_ let go of them, it really would be like it never happened.

“I’m really glad you came back,” Sasuke finally got himself to say. Naruto moved his eyes from the food to look at Sasuke. He smiled fondly at him.

“I’m glad I did, too.”


	7. Chapter 6

There was no loud slamming of the front door to wake up Sasuke this morning. He woke up around 11.30 with Naruto curled up against him once more. The blond wasn’t sleeping, though. He was playing with a loose thread on Sasuke’s t-shirt and smiled brightly at him when he saw that he was awake, too.

“Morning,” Naruto smiled, but the smile had a sad and cautious edge to it. As if he was waiting for some sort of negative reaction from Sasuke. Then it dawned on Sasuke. Itachi still hadn’t come home. His breath sped up and he sat up swiftly. Naruto grabbed his arm.

“He’s probably perfectly okay,” Naruto said in a reassuring voice. “We’ll go look for him.”

Sasuke nodded and got out of bed. He put on a pair of his newly-bought jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt. He went down the stairs hastily with Naruto on his heels. He wanted to put on his jacket and begin the search for Itachi immediately but the elf insisted that he ate some breakfast first. As it appeared there wasn’t any food in the house, Naruto conjured pieces of cake for the both of them. It was quite odd to go from never eating sweets to eating cake for breakfast but there was a certain soothing taste to it. It made him calm down a bit. Naruto convinced him that he should probably try to call Itachi’s workplace, so he did.

Itachi _had_ been to work the day before, but hadn’t shown up this morning. He’d left work at four like he always did and they hadn’t seen or heard from the older Uchiha since. Sasuke continuously tapped the pen in his hand down on the table, harder and harder as his frustration grew. After hanging up on Itachi’s secretary he called every hospital he could think of. As it would appear, Itachi wasn’t in any of them. Sasuke even called the police; they had nothing for him either.

“What the hell am I going to do now?!” he groaned miserably. Naruto put his head on his shoulder and looked up at him understandingly.

“I can use my magic to search for him if you’d like?” he offered. Sasuke eyed him with newfound hope rising within him. He nodded his consent and Naruto asked him for an item belonging to Itachi to help him in his search.

Sasuke hurried upstairs to Itachi’s room. It was about as far away from Sasuke’s room as it could be so he rarely spent any time around it. Upon entering the room of his brother he frowned in confusion. Everything in his oh-so-neat brother’s room was a mess. Clothes were scattered randomly across the floor and books lay discarded everywhere. How had his brother been able to leave the room in such chaos? Sasuke picked up one of his brother’s rings from the nightstand and rushed downstairs to the waiting elf.

“Okay, let me see what I can do,” Naruto said as he was handed the ring. His hands began to glow like they tended to do when he was using magic as they closed on the ring. The elf closed his eyes and furrowed his brows in concentration. Sasuke watched him in fascination. The blond was just so completely focused on the task it seemed as if he’d forgotten about the rest of the world. Then suddenly the glowing stopped and blue eyes opened to look back at him.

“I think I found him!” Naruto said proudly and flashed him a huge smile. At the worried look on Sasuke’s face he added, “and I’m absolutely positive that he’s alive!”

Sasuke let out a sigh of relief and followed Naruto outside to find the place the elf had seen in his mind. They made their way to the center of the city where Naruto promised Itachi would be. The elf dragged him through the streets until they made their way to a small scruffy-looking hotel. The guy in the lobby was too caught up in watching porn on his tiny TV to notice the two boys passing him to go up the stairs. Naruto insisted they were getting closer and stopped abruptly in front of room 203 on the second floor. The elf looked up at him as they stood in front of the door.

“This is the place,” he told him and eyed him as if to say that whether or not they were going to knock was completely up to Sasuke. Sasuke took in a deep breath and knocked on the rotting door. Someone moved around inside and the lock clicked. As the door opened, Sasuke braced himself for whatever sight would meet him in there. He didn’t recognize the person opening the door, though.

“ _What?_ ” growled the tall red-eyed guy in front of them. He had dark orange hair and a dangerous aura around him. Sasuke tried to answer but had completely lost his tongue. He didn’t have to say anything, though, as the orange-haired guy caught sight of the blond next to him and grinned.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t little Naruto,” he smirked. “What brings you here, Shorty?”

Naruto scoffed and stuck a tongue at the other at the nickname but quickly composed himself. “Hello, Kyuubi. Should have known you were involved. Do you happen to have Itachi Uchiha in there?”

The smirk on the orange-haired Kyuubi deepened. “I might. Why?”

“His brother wants to know that he’s alright,” Naruto answered and moved a bit closer to Sasuke as Kyuubi eyed him with an evil flicker in his eyes.

“Well, we wouldn’t want to disappoint little Sasuke then, would we?” Kyuubi sneered and took a step back to allow the two of them to enter the hotel room. The room was dirty and the walls that once were white had a nasty yellow tint to them. The carpet made a disgusting wet sound as they walked on it and the entire place had a sinful smell to it. Sasuke’s eyes widened as he saw his brother lying on the untidy bed in the middle of the room. He hurried to his brother side.

“Itachi?” he called. His brother didn’t respond. He kept lying with his eyes closed. For once there wasn’t even a hint of a frown on the older Uchiha’s face. He was just completely serene.

“Is he sleeping?” he asked Kyuubi who had sat himself on the edge of the bed. Kyuubi ran a hand through his orange locks and Sasuke caught a glimpse of pointy ears. He was an elf, too?

“No, he’s … resting,” Kyuubi answered dismissingly. Naruto went to stand by Sasuke’s side and glared at Kyuubi.

“You didn’t!”

“I had to!” Kyuubi defended himself and glared back at Naruto with such intensity that Sasuke felt like shielding him. “He was working himself to death trying to take care of that ungrateful brat!”

“Don’t call him that!” Naruto yelled. “Dammit, Kyuubi! You can’t just interfere with humans’ lives like that. It’s not your job!”

Kyuubi snorted. “And it isn’t _your_ job to revisit old assignments! Guess, we’re all rule breakers here, huh?!”

Naruto scowled at him. “We’re _so_ not the same thing! You’re only interested in helping him because you’re sleeping with him, I bet!”

“So what if I am?” Kyuubi spat back before smirking. “It’s still helping him!”

“… he’s what?” Sasuke asked, dumbfounded. The elves ignored him, though, as they continued to argue until Naruto finally ran out of patience and put a glowing hand on Itachi’s forehead. Instantly his brother’s eyes shot open and he sat up, confusion evident on his face. His eyes moved from Kyuubi to Naruto to Sasuke.

“… Sasuke, what _are_ you doing in a place like this?” he finally asked disgustedly, completely back in big-brother-mode. Sasuke looked at him in disbelief.

“What am _I_ doing here?! What are _you_ doing here?! You never came home yesterday and you’re asking _me_ what _I’m_ doing here??!” he asked incredulously. Itachi’s eyes widened with realization and he immediately looked remorseful.

“Sasuke, I am _so_ sorry! I should have called,” he said and put his hand on Sasuke’s shoulder. “I didn’t mean to put you through that. I was just going to stop by Kyuubi real quick and … now I’m here?”

Sasuke nodded in understanding, overwhelmed with relief as he took in the confirmation that his brother was indeed all right. Kyuubi snorted. “You’re welcome.”

“Kyuubi, you can’t just pull them out of their daily routines like that. You’ll draw too much attention,” Naruto scolded. Kyuubi rolled his eyes.

“You Do-Gooder’s are such goodie-goodies. Man, ignore the rules for _once_ ,” he whined. The banter between the two elves continued and the Uchiha brothers watched in amusement as Naruto finally just gave an aggravated sigh and told the others to meet him back home before he disappeared within his glowing circle. Kyuubi rolled his eyes and disappeared, too.

Sasuke and Itachi looked at each other for a moment as they processed what had just happened. Then they blinked and in unison asked each other, “you see them, too?!”


	8. Chapter 7

Naruto lay sprawled across the bed when Sasuke finally made his way back home. His brows were furrowed and he muttered a stream of stream of unpleasant curses in a language Sasuke didn’t understand. He was pretty certain he caught Kyuubi’s name popping up a lot, though. Sasuke and Itachi had had a long talk on their way home (after spending 45 minutes finding their car, that is) and had shared their experiences with the elves. As it turned out, Kyuubi had showed up at Itachi’s workplace a few weeks before, claiming to have watched Itachi for weeks. He’d said he was there to relief him of some of his stress and had forced Itachi to take time out of his schedule at least three times a week to be with him; to let him show Itachi a good time, he’d said.

Apparently it had escalated fairly quickly which led Itachi a bit apprehensive about Naruto having stayed with Sasuke, in his room, in his bed.

He’d blushed then, forcefully denying his brother’s ideas and hurriedly explained their actual situation, yet as he watched the elf now, lying so carelessly sprawled out on his bed … well, it looked quite enticing. He made his way to the bed and sat down next to the blond.

“You’ alright?” he asked as he ran his fingers tentatively through the elf’s blonde locks. Naruto looked up at him and did his best to flash him a reassuring smile. He failed a bit around the edges, though.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” the elf answered. “Kyuubi just always gets to me, I guess.”

Sasuke nodded and continued to stroke Naruto’s hair, smiling as the elf leaned into the touch with a content sigh. “But at least we found your brother!” Naruto grinned. “I’m just sorry we had to find him with mine.”

“Kyuubi’s your _brother_??” Sasuke asked the blond incredulously. Said blond whined when he stopped moving his stroking hand in his astonishment, so he resumed his actions.

“He is,” Naruto nodded, voice almost reduced to a purr. “Though admittedly, I don’t see him very often. I honestly don’t think we see each other more than like once a decade.”

Sasuke frowned a bit. He’d never really thought about Naruto’s background. As far as his mind went Naruto had just started existing one day and started helping people the next.

“Naruto, how old are you?”

“I’m 223 years old,” Naruto answered promptly and watched Sasuke’s face closely for his reaction.

“And you’ve been a Do-Gooder always?”

“No. We won’t work when we’re kids. That would just be wrong,” the elf laughed. Then he saw the look on Sasuke’s face. “Yes, I’ve been a kid once. We’re not immortal, Sasu-chan. We just age _really_ slowly compared to humans. You humans grow far too fast for my liking.”

Sasuke was about to ask more questions, every question he could possibly think of regarding elves, but was rudely interrupted by the sudden “OH GOD!” coming from across the hall. He quickly recognized it to be Kyuubi’s voice. Were they in trouble? He was just about to go check when Naruto caught his wrist.

“You really don’t wanna go there, Sasu-chan. I would be very bad at keeping you from any psychological issues if I let you walk in on them,” the elf said as he dragged Sasuke back to the bed and snapped his fingers to make the door close by itself. _Walk in on them?_ Sasuke was confused but then blushed as he remembered Naruto accusing Kyuubi for sleeping with Itachi – and apparently not in as literal a way as Naruto slept with Sasuke.

Another loud moan sounded from across the hall, this time from Itachi, and Sasuke felt like torching his own ears at the noise.

“Once again, I’m really sorry that my brother turned out to be involved,” Naruto sighed and sat up as it seemed Sasuke was too frozen in his shock to continue the stroking of his hair.

“ _OH, FUCK THAT’S GOOD!”_

“NARUTO, MAKE THAT STOP! PLEASE!!” Sasuke pleaded and the elf instantly shot up and pointed a glowing finger at the door. The noises disappeared instantly, like they had when Sasuke had been a little kid and wanted to escape his family’s fighting. He muttered his ‘thanks’ to the elf before letting himself fall backwards to lie on the bed.

“You’d think the distance between our rooms would save me from that kind of trauma,” Sasuke groaned and clawed at his hair in an attempt to erase the mental images of his brother having sex with Kyuubi. Naruto smiled in understanding and lay down next to him. “Please, tell me that your brother’s leaving soon?” Sasuke tried desperately. Naruto just shook his head sadly.

“Sorry, Sasu-chan, but once he takes an interest in someone he tends to stay around for quite a while, hence why we only see each other once a decade.”

Sasuke groaned. “Doesn’t he have a job like you?”

“He does,” Naruto snorted. “He’s supposed to be a Guard at the gates of Yule Land but he ditched his duties like a century ago because he thought it was too boring. Apparently he wanted to ‘find himself’.”

Sasuke could see the obvious disapproval on the Do-Gooder’s face. It clearly wasn’t in Naruto’s nature to just abandon his duties anytime soon. Then again, being a Do-Gooder sounded more awarding than being a guard on the _North Pole_.

Naruto curled up against his side and snuggled his head into the crook of Sasuke’s neck. Sasuke turned and took the elf in his arms.

“Well, this sure is a bit ‘roles-reversed’ from when I was here ten years ago,” Naruto chuckled and nuzzled further into Sasuke’s neck. Sasuke smiled but also felt a bit odd about wanting that kind of intimacy from someone who pretty much used to babysit him. He pulled the elf closer and closed his eyes as he inhaled the comforting scent of cinnamon.

“Haven’t _you_ ever done what he’s doing?” Sasuke asked, silently fearing the answer.

“Left my job to fall in love?”

“Yeah.”

“No, I haven’t,” Naruto answered and Sasuke’s heart sunk a little. “I could _never_ abandon my kids like that.”

“Not even by doing like you’re doing now? Off schedule?” Sasuke tried. The elf looked astonished at first, then appeared to actually consider it.

“… No. I hardly have time to schedule extra time for my past assignments as it is. If I had to fit in another person regularly I’d probably crumble under the stress. Not to mention that Accounting would surely find out,” Naruto finally said. Then he paused. “I think they’re done.”

“How can you tell?” Sasuke asked, forcing down the disappointment from Naruto’s previous answer. Naruto grinned at him. “Just because you can’t hear past the barrier doesn’t mean I can’t.”

The blond snapped his fingers from his spot, curled up against his former assignment, and promptly Sasuke could hear a low conversation from outside his room. Sasuke felt like he should leave his room and at least try to be social – given the scare he’d had about losing his brother just a few hours earlier – but he didn’t want to leave his comfortable spot on the large bed with Naruto. In fact, he could probably lay there for the rest of his life and be perfectly content – you know, aside from food and bathroom breaks. The decision was made for him, though; as the door was rudely slammed open by a shirtless Kyuubi, wearing Itachi’s pants.

“If the two of you are done making out, we’ll be going out for dinner since the house is freaking empty for food,” the half-naked man proclaimed before leaving the two. Sasuke wanted to stay but Naruto had already left his side to head for the door. He looked back to Sasuke with an expectant look on his pretty face. “You’ coming?”

Sasuke nodded and followed the other downstairs where Itachi was forcing a jacket on Kyuubi as he refused to be seen in public with someone who ‘walked around shirtless in the December snow’. Naruto stayed even closer to Sasuke’s side when in the room with Kyuubi, Sasuke noticed. He could practically _feel_ the elf’s breathing on him at every moment. Not that he minded.

Getting into the car, the orange-haired elf quickly claimed the passenger seat which appeared to soothe Naruto just fine as he was practically sitting on Sasuke’s lap through the entire drive, eyes locked distrustingly at Kyuubi. Even at the fast food restaurant Naruto’s chair was about as close to Sasuke’s as it could possibly be.

“Geez, Naruto. If you wanna give him a lapdance in the restaurant, just do so,” Kyuubi mocked, receiving a stuck out tongue in answer. Itachi lifted an eyebrow at Naruto’s clinginess but didn’t comment on it as he was busy sending Kyuubi a warning glare when the elf apparently tried to do something under the table. Sasuke was caught between wanting to shoot himself at whatever was going on under the table, and pump his fist in the air at the feeling of victory Naruto’s closeness was bringing.

Several other guests at the restaurant were eying them critically at the sight of a shirtless guy coming on to the stoic older Uchiha until Naruto finally gave in and blinded them with his magic. Kyuubi’s actions didn’t stop and Sasuke felt like going for option Number One and shoot himself. Naruto soothingly took hold of his hand and entwined their fingers.

When they were _finally_ done eating Itachi promised Sasuke he would leave some money for him to go grocery shopping the next day so they could keep their guests in the privacy of their home. Sasuke nodded gratefully and prayed Naruto would put the barrier up around his room for the rest of the night as well.


	9. Chapter 8

Naruto wasn’t lying by his side when he woke up. Sasuke looked frantically around the room before remembering that the elf had another assignment, too. He looked at his drawers from his spot on the bed and tried to will the clothes to come to him. They didn’t. He sighed and rolled over the edge of the bed, landing with a _thud_ on the cold morning floor. Pushing himself up he gradually willed himself to stand despite the cold temperature in the room making him want to crawl back to the heat of the bed.

After finally getting dressed he left the comfort zone that was his room and went downstairs to the kitchen. He expected to find the kitchen empty and was slightly put off by the sight of the two elves sitting by the dinner table, faces closely together as they were caught up in a heated conversation. The noise the fridge made as he opened it made Naruto lift his head and smile in acknowledgement of his presence. He smiled back at the blond but sighed irritably as he remembered that the fridge was pretty much empty safe for a bottle of ketchup. When he looked back at the elves, a large piece of cake waited for him at his usual spot by the table. Naruto winked at him cheerfully as he sat down.

“Sleep well?” his former elf asked him and moved his chair closer.

“I slept alright,” Sasuke smiled back at the blond, then looked to the other elf. Was he really going to stay with them? He suppressed a groan and began eating his cake.

“What were you talking about?” he asked the elves. “Looked serious.”

An unreadable expression crossed Naruto’s face but the elf quickly concealed it with a nonchalant smile and assured him that it was nothing for him to worry about. Sasuke raised a skeptical eyebrow at him.

“It’s really no big deal. Just some elf-business,” Naruto insisted. “Now finish your breakfast.”

“If you really insist on smothering him, shouldn’t you get him a healthier breakfast than that?” Kyuubi muttered grumpily. “Or have you just completely forgotten what sugar and calories do to humans?”

Naruto immaturely stuck out his tongue in response but eyed the remains of Sasuke’s cake a bit differently. When there was absolutely no more cake on the plate Naruto snapped his fingers and it disappeared.

“So, Sasu-chan,” Naruto smiled. “Plans for the day?”

“Well, we need to fill the fridge,” Sasuke answered and eyed the stack of money Itachi had left him on the counter. Then he turned his gaze to Kyuubi, wondering if he had to come as well. The tall elf caught his unspoken question and shook his head, making orange strands fall into his red eyes.

“No worries, brat. You’ll have Shorty to yourself, I’m gonna catch up on some sleep. God knows your brother didn’t let me have much,” he chuckled in a deep throaty voice. Sasuke felt like banging his head into the table at the smirk on Kyuubi’s face. He _did not_ need to know stuff like that about his brother.

Once he’d gotten over his nausea he and Naruto left the house to go grocery shopping. This time he allowed the blond to follow him in the store and he was thoroughly enjoying Naruto’s constant mild chattering as he put the needed groceries into the cart. As the cart filled Sasuke got thrilled at the prospect of having actual food in the fridge again. It was weird but there was something comforting about knowing there was plenty of food in the house, just in case.

As they carried their groceries home, Sasuke noticed the distance between him and Naruto. Given how closely Naruto had stayed to him the day before there was quite a bit of space between them now. It made him wonder.

“Naruto, why don’t you trust Kyuubi around me?” he asked, making the blond look up at him in mild distress. “I mean, you just seem to be keeping a really good eye on him and you kept standing between us yesterday.”

The blond sighed and slowed down in front of the Uchiha estate before them. “Kyuubi can just be a bit… impulsive. And you and Itachi look alike _a lot_. And at the same time he’s really pissed at you ‘cause he believes you’re the reason for Itachi wearing himself down. I’m just not very comfortable having him around you, okay?”

Sasuke felt a bit dejected at the idea of having made his own brother work himself too hard. Was he really doing that to him?

“Just because Kyuubi believes that doesn’t mean that it’s true, Sasu-chan,” Naruto quickly clarified at the look on Sasuke’s face. “Personally, I think it’s just ‘cause Itachi’s such a perfectionist and high-achiever by nature.”

Sasuke smiled back at the elf at his ever-present attempt to cheer him up. The rest of the trip back to the house went by in silence, only broken by Naruto’s greetings to random strangers.

Kyuubi joined them in the kitchen as they put the groceries into the fridge. He and Naruto began talking about a bunch of people Sasuke had never heard of. After a while he gave up on listening and focused on the task of filling the cabins, thus not noticing Kyuubi sneaking up on him until the elf was standing directly behind him, making him jump in surprise as he turned and came face to face with him.

“So, _Sasu-chan,_ just what issues of yours is keeping Shorty here with you?” he asked and Sasuke cringed a bit at the ghost of the other’s breath crossing his face.

“That’s none of your business, Kyuubi,” Naruto spat back as he stepped in between the two, though hardly making a difference as he was much shorter than the both of them. The elf took hold of Sasuke’s hand and dragged him upstairs, forcefully shutting the door. Sasuke lifted an eyebrow at the elf’s behavior before sitting down on the couch. Naruto turned to look at him with a disapproving look on his face.

“Did I not say I didn’t want Kyuubi near you, Sasuke?” he scolded, for once using the teen’s full name. “Could you not at least _try_ to keep some distance between the two of you. Kyuubi can do some serious damage, okay? Don’t get too close.”

Though Naruto surely meant for his words to be a grave warning, Sasuke couldn’t help but find the seriousness in the blue eyes endearing. He motioned with his hand for Naruto to come closer. The elf went to his side at once, obedient as always, and Sasuke took hold of his arm and pulled him onto his lap. He held Naruto close, completely overwhelmed by his adoration for the elf.

“You’re really not taking me seriously, are you?” Naruto sighed into his neck. Sasuke chuckled.

“I’m sorry. But you really are too cute, you know that?” he answered.

“Of course I know,” Naruto said sourly. “It’s a Do-Gooder-thing. We’re like puppies. Too cute to be considered dangerous – makes people trust us more.”

Sasuke rubbed soothing circles into Naruto’s back and nuzzled his face into the elf's hair. “And you don’t like that?” Naruto sniffed dramatically.

“No, I take my job seriously and I want to be taken seriously myself,” Naruto clarified and began playing with a strand of Sasuke’s dark hair. Sasuke smiled and cupped the elf’s face to force him to look at him. The deep blue eyes watched him expectantly.

“If it’s any consolation I do take your job seriously, a lot. You really make a difference,” Sasuke spoke and smiled as Naruto blushed at his words. And though, he really didn’t mean to – though he’d really promised himself not to – he leaned down to capture the elf’s lips in a chaste kiss.


	10. Chapter 9

Sasuke wasn’t sure exactly how he expected Naruto to react. There were loads of options in his mind; very few of them good.

Naruto kissing him back really wasn’t one but he sure was glad it was the one the elf chose. The elf wrapped his arms tightly around Sasuke’s neck as he allowed for the kiss to continue.

As they pulled apart they both eyed the other with confusion clearly written on their faces.

Naruto opened his mouth to say something but just as he did something between them glowed a bright red. Blue eyes widened in shock and the elf jumped up from his spot on Sasuke’s lap to frantically pull at a chain around his neck.

Sasuke watched in stunned silence as Naruto pulled the chain up from underneath his shirt, revealing a crystal pendant. The pendant glowing wasn’t like the specks of light that usually surrounded Naruto when he used magic. This glowing was a bloody crimson and somehow warningly and urgent.

The door to their room was slammed open by an alert-looking Kyuubi, clutching a pendant just like the one in Naruto’s hand. Kyuubi’s had the same threatening radiance as Naruto’s. The two elves locked eyes, an unspoken understanding seemed to flow between them.

“We need to leave,” they said in unison. Itachi came up the hall to stand next to Kyuubi. He looked to Sasuke for some sort of context. Sasuke shook his head. He knew about this as much as his brother.

“What’s going on?” Sasuke asked when he finally couldn’t keep his curiosity under control anymore. Naruto eyed him sadly.

“We have to go. There’s something wrong back at home,” he explained. Kyuubi whispered something into Itachi’s ear, making the older Uchiha nod solemnly before the orange-haired elf drew a glowing circle around himself before disappearing. Itachi left the room as soon as his elf was gone.

“You’re leaving right now?” Sasuke asked, alarmed at the sad look on Naruto’s face. He didn’t want Naruto to leave. Ever. Especially not now when he’d actually gotten to kiss the elf. Weren’t they supposed to talk about that?

“I’m sorry, Sasu-chan,” Naruto said, flashing him a pair of big blue puppy eyes. “But I have to come when they call for Red Alert. Even Kyuubi doesn’t ignore that, as you could see.”

“But I don’t want you to. Surely they can get whatever they want from someone else?” he tried. The blond shook his head. There really was no way of stopping him from going? Sasuke felt desperation rise in his chest and tried a new approach. The last one he could think of.

“Can I come with you?” he asked urgently. The blue eyes widened in disbelieve and shock. Naruto opened his mouth with what would clearly be a refusal to let Sasuke come with him.

“ _Please_ , Naruto. I want to come with you,” he asked, using a pleading tone his voice hadn’t experienced since he was a child. Naruto looked downright tortured at the sound. He’d never denied Sasuke of anything he’d asked him. Not even when he asked for his stuffed animals to come to life. Naruto sighed in defeat and Sasuke felt like grinning with victory but kept the kicked puppy expression on his face to seal the deal. The elf snapped his fingers twice and a stack of squared pieces of paper appeared in his other hand, neatly stacked. Their edges were tinted yellow and Sasuke wondered just how old they were – they looked as old as Naruto had admitted he to be. The blond fanned them open and eyed each of them closely before picking out one. He handed it to Sasuke with a worried look on his face.

“Okay, listen. We don’t do this very often,” Naruto began explaining. “Each of us only get a certain number of tickets so I need you to not lose this, alright? I know you’re not exactly known for being irresponsible but still, it could happen. If you lose this I can’t guarantee for you. This is your visa in our world, so to speak.”

“Ticket?” Sasuke asked as he turned the piece of paper in his hand. Surely enough, as he studied it closer it did appear to be a really old form of train ticket with the words ‘ _Yule Express’_ written in golden letters.

“Yes. I can’t bring you with me. It demands too much magic and it’s also kinda illegal,” Naruto explained, brows still furrowed in worry. “Just keep the ticket on your person and the train should be here at midnight sharp. I really _really_ have to leave now. “

He hugged Sasuke close briefly before stepping away and vanishing in his glowing circle with a quiet ”bye, Sasu-chan.”

Sasuke turned the piece of paper in his hand and gasped as his name appeared underneath ‘ _Yule Express’_. Naruto’s name was written in red ink at the nether corner of the ticket, he noticed. He jumped in surprise as the sound of the timer in the kitchen went off. He slid the ticket into his pocket and went downstairs just as his brother pulled dinner out of the oven. He sat down by the table.

“I’m leaving, too,” he said and watched as the older Uchiha stopped dead in his tracks. Itachi turned to look at his little brother.

“You’re what?”

“Naruto told me a way to get there,” he explained and tried to read his brother’s expression. He couldn’t. “I’m supposed to leave by midnight.”

Itachi studied him for a few seconds before nodding and turning back to preparing their meal. He put the food on the table and the two brothers ate in silence. Sasuke kept eyeing the big antique clock on the opposite wall, causing Itachi to shake his head at him. Time moved _so_ slowly without the elves. Without Naruto.

He decided to get some sleep and snuggled on his bed, not daring to change out of his clothes in case he lost the ticket. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who’d be in trouble if he lost it. Maybe Naruto could be in trouble as well. Was that why he was so hesitant to let him come?

With half an hour left to midnight he sat himself by the window. He watched the snowy world outside his house and smiled. He couldn’t help it. The snow wasn’t just kind of magical anymore. It also reminded him of the blond Do-Gooder.

He remembered how Naruto had said it would arrive at exactly midnight, so he went downstairs and clad himself in his jacket and put on his gloves before going outside. Standing in the middle of the winter wonderland Naruto had given him he felt completely surrounded by magic.

He kept his eyes on his phone as he watched the time near midnight. The numbers on his phone finally read 00.00 and he gasped in surprise as the ground began to shake. The snow shone magically and birds hiding in the trees of his garden flew hurriedly away.

He was then entirely blinded by a bright light coming his way and he held up his hands to shield his eyes. He heard a loud _whoooo_ and as he opened his eyes he saw an impossibly large old-looking train parking in his garden. Golden letters across the side of the train informed him that this was indeed the _Yule Express_. A door opened in front of him and a tall woman climbed off. She extended her hand expectantly and spoke in a loud voice.

“Ticket, please.”


	11. Chapter 10

Sasuke eyed the tall woman as he handed her the ticket. Her blonde hair was pulled into several ponytails and she wore a dark green uniform.

“Naruto’s Sasuke Uchiha?” she read, looking at him questionably. Sasuke nodded. She handed him back the ticket.

“Well, then. Welcome aboard the Yule Express! My name’s Tamari, I’ll be your conductor all the way to Yule Land!” She exclaimed loudly and stepped aside so he could enter the train.

As the train began to move, Tamari led him down a narrow hall that seemed to go on forever. Sasuke noticed a bunch of names on each door they passed. A lot of them seemed simply too odd to actually belong to any real people. Tamari finally stopped as she reached her predetermined destination. Sasuke’s eyes widened as he saw the name ‘Naruto’ written on the door in golden letters. Tamari opened the door for him and let him enter.

“Make yourself at home! We’ll be arriving at Yule Land in three hours since we only have to pick up another six passengers. Enjoy the ride!” She grinned and left him to the room consisting of eight seats. He eyed the ticket. It actually had a seat number on it but giving the fact that Naruto didn’t seem to do this very often he figured he could sit wherever. He sat himself close to the window and watched in amazement as the landscape blurrily passed him by. He wanted to think they would at least still be in the same country as before but as he thought he briefly saw the Eiffel Tower he wasn’t so sure anymore.

“No way,” he whispered to himself as he recognized Big Ben. How did they do it?? The train stopped and he saw a small fragile-looking girl hand Tamari her ticket.  The conductor nodded and allowed the girl to enter. The train then moved again at its impossibly fast speed. Five more times the train stopped to pick up passengers. Most of them appeared to be a lot younger than Sasuke – and also looked to be rather sick. Sasuke had pretty much dozed off when the train pulled to a harsh stop. He nearly fell out of his seat but quickly poised himself. He looked out of the window and saw the most beautifully snow-covered landscape. Tamari’s voice sounded loudly in the room.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we’ve reached our destination, Yule Land. We know you didn’t have much choice in the matter but we want to thank you for traveling with the Yule Express! Please wait for your designated elf on the platform and enjoy your stay!”

Sasuke dizzily got off the seat and opened the door. He peaked outside and saw the other passengers walk in the opposite direction of which he’d entered. He followed them to a black door that vanished into thin air. The passengers all walked onto a platform that appeared to be made of ice. Sasuke smiled as he could actually see his reflection in the ice.

Though everything was covered in ice and snow it actually wasn’t as cold as Sasuke would have expected the North Pole to be. He glanced around. In front of him were a big town with old-fashioned houses and young-looking people with pointy ears walking around. Behind him he could see the edge of blurry veil that seemed to separate the town from a _very_ cold-looking snow-dessert. He shivered at the mere sight of it.

“Sasu-chan?” a voice called behind him. He turned to see Naruto emerge from the town. The elf smiled at him and ran to his side.

“Naruto, what is that?” he asked the elf as he pointed to the veil. The elf looked past him.

“Oh that. That’s the shield separating Yule Land from the North Pole. Though separating might not be the right word since we’re actually in an entirely different dimension,” Naruto explained.

Sasuke eyed him incredulously. “We’re what?”

“Yule Land _has_ to be somewhere humans won’t find it,” Naruto explained as he shrugged his shoulders. “Not that there’re a lot of humans around here… but you know, we can’t be too careful.”

Naruto took hold of Sasuke’s hand and began dragging him towards the town. The elf pulled him through colorful narrow streets. Sasuke’s senses completely overwhelmed. The smell of cakes and cookies were invading his nostrils, loud joyful laughter filled his ears and the warmth of the houses heated his skin comfortably. It seemed to be common courtesy in Yule Land to greet just about everyone you passed with a friendly ‘hello’.

Not everyone seemed to follow that rule, though, Sasuke noted as a tall long-haired male elf hurriedly made his way through the crowded street. He caught Naruto’s eyes then looked at Sasuke before frowning disapprovingly at Naruto. What the hell was his problem?

“Don’t mind Neji,” Naruto said as he sped up. “He’s in Accounting. There’s no pleasing them.”

Sasuke looked back at where Neji had passed them. It was amazing how different elves were from each other. Neji had looked so uptight compared to patient Naruto and rebellious Kyuubi. Sasuke was so caught up in his thoughts about different types of elves he didn’t notice the blond stopping until he accidentally bumped into him.

“This is my place,” Naruto said as he snapped his fingers to conjure a key to open the large wooden door. He opened up to the cozy cabin-like house. Sasuke was surprised to see that the house looked rather abandoned. Dust covered the shelves and the house wasn’t as warm as some of the houses they’d passed on their way there. Naruto pointed his fingers to the fireplace that lit up instantly. 

“I don’t stay here much – as you may have noticed,” Naruto explained at the confused look on Sasuke’s face. “I usually stay wherever I’m working and only come around for Christmas.”

Naruto showed him the way to the hallway, and Sasuke was surprised to see that aside from what was obviously Naruto’s room there were as many bedrooms as there had been seats for him on the train.

“Is it important that I stay where my ticket says,” Sasuke asked the elf. Naruto shook his head.

“Not unless they declare state of emergency. In that case you have to follow the rules,” he said. Then he watched Sasuke for a few seconds.

“Look, I have to get back to Headquarters for a briefing so you’re on your own for a few hours,” Naruto said, worried tone back to his voice. “Will you be alright?”

“Sure,” Sasuke smiled, trying to be the reassuring one for once. Naruto looked concerned enough; he shouldn’t have to worry about someone who wasn’t even supposed to be there. Naruto nodded unsurely before hesitantly leaving Sasuke alone in the house.

He spent some time wandering around the house, trying to identify certain things that proved this house to be Naruto’s. Like the picture of Naruto and Kyuubi standing with a blonde man and a redheaded woman behind them, or drawings made for Naruto by various children from his past. He smiled when he found a stuffed animal he clearly remembered from when he was little. It was one of the ones he’d made Naruto bring to life. The toy had a ribbon around its neck with a tag that read ‘Sasuke Uchiha’ on it. Sasuke held the stuffed toy in his hands for a while as he happily remembered that day.

Then someone knocked loudly on the front door. Was he supposed to open? It wasn’t exactly _his_ place. He decided that it might be important and went to open the door. Standing outside was a young girl with long pink hair and green eyes.

 


	12. Chapter 11

The girl smiled approvingly at the sight of him and blinked her eyes a little too many times. “Well, hello. And who might you be?” she asked sweetly.

“I’m… Sasuke?” he said.

“Oh, right. Naruto’s assignment!” She said and clasped her hands in front of her face. “Well aren’t you gorgeous!”

Sasuke felt like sighing. He’d experienced quite a bit of girls like her in the schools he’d attended. Too clingy and flirty. The girl continued to bat her long eyelashes at him and twirl a piece of pink hair around her finger. He wondered how old she was. Maybe she was more than 200 years old as well… somehow a grosser thought when it was this strange female than when it was Naruto.

“And you are?” he tried. The girl giggled.

“I’m Sakura! I’m a friend of Naruto’s. May I come in?” she asked but didn’t allow for him to answer before she rudely entered Naruto’s house. She looked very much at home in the house as she sat herself in a comfy-looking armchair by the fireplace. She gestured for him to sit in the chair across from her and winked. He felt like leaving the house all together but decided he should probably try to stay on his best behavior as long as he was a visitor in this dimension. He sat down.

“So~, tell me, Sasuke,” the pink-haired elf began. “Has Naruto mentioned anything to you about Accounting?”

“He told me they’re the ones keeping track of how much magic you collect and how much is spend,” Sasuke answered, trying to remember as much from that conversation with Naruto as he possibly could. “Why?”

“Oh, nothing. They’ve just lost a _huuge_ amount of paperwork and they think it’s one of us Do-Gooders who’s trying to keep them from knowing about our usage of our magic,” she said in a gossipy voice. “Which is just downright ridiculous! It’s _our_ magic and they have no right to tell us what to use it on. All they need to do is to make sure that Mr. Santa has enough magic on Christmas Eve. That’s it. For the rest of it, they should just leave us alone!”

Sasuke nodded. That made sense. The red alert was because of lost documents? Was Naruto a suspect? He was absolutely positive that Naruto wasn’t the type of person to steal something that important. Though he might not know his elf all that well, he was certain Naruto wouldn’t.

“You do it, too. Right? Visit old assignments?” he asked and watched as the girl froze. She looked down guiltily and nervously began combing her fingers through her hair.

“Not officially,” she said. Her voice sounded like it belonged to a child being caught doing something they know they shouldn’t.

“So, yes,” he translated. The female elf nodded, as if afraid it would cause her trouble to say it out loud.

“Why are you here, Sakura?” he asked her. “If you’re a Do-Gooder, shouldn’t you be where Naruto is?”

The girl’s eyes shot back up again and she smiled. “Oh, I was just curious to see who Naruto’s been spending so much time with. Especially since he actually lend you a ticket. That’s something we usually only do for dying little children who wish to see something overly-magical before they pass.”

Well, that explained the sick kids on the train, Sasuke thought to himself. Sakura eyed him expectantly as if wanting him to explain why _he_ was there. Sasuke looked into the fire, not wanting to meet those curious green eyes.

“I was so curious to see why he would spend so much time on someone with such simple problems,” she continued, making Sasuke feel really small. From a greater perspective he would agree that dying children might rank higher on most priority lists. “But of course, now that we’ve met, I can totally see why he’d want to stay around you.” She winked again. Sasuke blushed a bit.

“Where are you getting at?” he asked as he willed his face to regain its usual paleness. The girl giggled again and shook her head as if to say it was obvious. Then she rose from the chair and pranced to the door, looking back at him with a knowing smirk on her face.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll find out eventually,” she said before leaving the confused human to himself. Sasuke stared at the door as if expecting it to explain it to him. Girls really were too fond of lacing their sentences with hidden meanings.

After two more hours Naruto finally appeared in the door, looking utterly exhausted. He dragged himself to the fireplace and threw himself at the one Sakura had previously occupied. He attempted to aim a smile at Sasuke but it came off rather forced.

“So, what have you been up to while I was out?” Naruto asked, snapping his fingers to make mugs of hot cocoa appear in their hands.

“Not much,” Sasuke shrugged. “Looked a little around the house… and Sakura stopped by.”

Naruto froze mid-sip. “….. What did she do?”

“She told me that Accounting is missing some paperwork, and that your department was under suspicion,” he said, leaving out the last part about her questioning Naruto’s reasons for seeing him. Naruto sighed.

“Sakura talks too much,” he muttered and took a sip of cocoa. Sasuke nearly laughed. He wasn’t sure he could recall many times when Naruto hadn’t been constantly talking himself. Maybe it was a Do-Gooder-thing. To help them connect with people.

“Do you know who did it?” Sasuke asked. The blond lifted an eyebrow, then shook his head dismissingly.

“No Do-Gooder, I can guarantee you that much,” the elf yawned, running a hand through his golden locks. He looked like a strange cross between a child in trouble and a tired grownup, and Sasuke couldn’t stop himself from beckoning the elf to come closer. Naruto got off his chair instantly, as always, and allowed for Sasuke to pull him onto his lap. He rested his head in the crook of Sasuke’s neck and yawned again.

“Long day?” Sasuke asked, petting the enticing blonde hair. Naruto nodded into Sasuke’s shoulder. Sasuke suddenly thought it to be a bit weird they still seemed to go on as if their kiss had never happened and wondered if he should bring it up. Though, as he felt the elf’s breathing grow heavier he figured it might not be the best time.

He picked up the sleepy elf and walked to the room he’d guessed to be Naruto’s. He gently placed Naruto on the soft bed and moved to lie down next to him. Naruto slid his arms around Sasuke’s middle and cuddled close, sighing one last time before falling into deep sleep. Sasuke watched the elf’s serene face until his own eyelids grew too heavy for him to stay awake.


	13. Chapter 12

Waking up in Naruto’s house was incredibly comfortable. The house was warm and like the rest of the town it smelled deliciously of cake. Sasuke opened his eyes and took in the sight of Naruto’s room. The walls were covered with bookshelves full of drawings, teddy bears, yoyos, children’s books and letters. Sasuke smiled as he recognized a drawing he’d made for Naruto when he was little and an old baseball cap he thought he’d lost. He gazed down at the sleeping elf beside him. Naruto really wasn’t all that good at letting go, was he?

“Mmm,” Naruto groaned as he woke up, too, nuzzling sleepily deeper into Sasuke’s neck. Sasuke gently ran his fingers through the elf’s blonde hair and grinned as the action made blue eyes open. Naruto smiled at him with a cutely mumbled “good morning.”

“Morning,” Sasuke smiled and kissed the elf's forehead. Naruto sighed.

“We should probably get up,” he said. “There’s no such thing as sleeping in around here. Not this close to Christmas at least.” As the elf tried to push himself up, Sasuke grabbed his upper arm and forced him back down on top of him.

“Let’s just staaay,” he pleaded stubbornly as he held the elf close. Naruto chuckled but appeared to be genuinely torn between giving into whatever Sasuke wanted as usual  - and getting up for whatever he was supposed to be doing in Yule Land. The elf sighed in defeat and relaxed in Sasuke’s arms.

“Fine,” he muttered. “But not for long.”

Sasuke smirked victoriously and caressed Naruto’s cheek in gratitude. Naruto had a strange look in his eyes for a moment so brief Sasuke barely even had time to notice. Sasuke continued to brush his thumb across Naruto’s jar and raised a brow when the elf blushed a bit. Wanting to know just how much further he could push it, Sasuke let his finger move to slowly brush over the blond’s lips. He was quite stunned when the elf removed his hand forcefully and planted a kiss on his lips. Sasuke responded immediately, moving his lips against Naruto’s. He pulled away, confused.

“So, it was okay that I kis-“  

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Naruto interrupted and pulled him in for another kiss. Sasuke grinned into the kiss and flipped them over so he could be on top. He pried the elf’s lips apart, allowing for their tongues to meet. While exploring the other’s mouth he brought his hand back up to Naruto’s face, caressing his cheeks as the kiss grew deeper.

_“DOOOOOOONG, DOOOOOOOOONG, DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!!”_ Their moment was rudely interrupted by the sound of a gong from somewhere outside. Naruto’s face grew alert and the elf gently pushed Sasuke away, allowing him to sit up.

“What’s that?” Sasuke asked, feeling the culture shock return.

“Mr. Santa’s back,” Naruto answered and sighed. “I should probably go check with Headquarters whether or not they want me staying here any longer.”

With those words the elf got out of bed and went to open the closet in the corner of the room. In the closet were a bunch of uniforms resembling the one he’d seen Tamari wear on the train; green jacket with golden buttons, matching green pants and warm-looking brown boots. Naruto didn’t pick out any of those, though, but instead eyed the content of the shelves then snapped his finger, magically dressing himself in an orange and black jacket with black jeans and boots.

He looked to Sasuke. Then he smiled and snapped his fingers again, making a huge portion of Sasuke’s own wardrobe appear on the floor.

“Get dressed, Sasu-chan,” he grinned. “You’re coming with me today.”

Sasuke smiled at the prospect of actually getting to explore some of the magical town. “Where are we going?”

“Headquarters first. If they haven’t got anything else for me to do, there’re a couple of friends I haven’t seen in a while,” the elf answered as Sasuke got dressed (considerably slower than Naruto). After Sasuke had put on his shoes, he and Naruto went to the elf’s kitchen. Naruto conjured two pieces of cake before pausing to look strangely at the sweets. He looked to Sasuke.

“What exactly do humans eat for breakfast?” he asked embarrassedly, clearly remembering Kyuubi’s words. Sasuke smirked at the helpless look on the elf’s face.

“I’ll eat whatever, Naruto,” he answered. “You don’t have to change it.”

Naruto looked relieved, but also frustrated that he didn’t get an answer. They ate their cakes while Sasuke told Naruto of the ideal human diet. The elf listened in fascination as he learned that the sugary food he ate himself had potentially fatal consequences for humans if consumed on a large scale.

After finishing their meal, they left the house. They entered the busy street outside. Elves hurried past them with friendly greetings on their lips. The sun was up and shone its light on the gilded lampposts, making everything brighter and more beautiful.

They walked to the opposite end of where Sasuke had arrived on train and reached a large fairytale-like cabin. The words ‘Do-Gooder’s Headquarter’ was engraved into a board of wood hanging over the door. Naruto was greeted enthusiastically by almost everyone they passed. A lot of the elves inside had the same cute, friendly and harmless aura that Naruto had, making him feel instantly comfortable about Headquarters. Inside the Headquarters were giant parchment lists hung up on the walls. Placed just a few feet apart by the walls were about twenty uniform-clad elves, sitting by desks facing the scrolls. They read and wrote names and situations on the parchment and checked lists of elf names lying in front of them on their desks. In the middle of the room were half-moon-shaped couches and round desks where other elves looked to be taking breaks and chatting amongst themselves.

Naruto led him through the room, all the way to the back where he knocked on a thick-looking wooden door. A tag on the wall next to the door informed him that they were knocking on the Do-Gooder Supervisor’s door.

“Enter!” yelled a female voice from the other side. Naruto pushed the heavy door open. Sitting by a large desk was a tall, intimidating-looking woman. Her dark hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail and instead of the green uniform she wore a big brown coat.

“Hey Anko,” Naruto greeted the woman who looked up from a meal on her desk. Chicken? Was she actually eating real food?

“Morning Naruto,” Anko greeted him unenthusiastically. She looked to Sasuke walking behind Naruto. “And you must be..” she looked down to a list on her table. “Sasuke Uchiha?”

He nodded. She looked back to Naruto as if she’d already lost interest in him. She scanned another list on her table before shaking her head.

“Got nothing for you, brat, you can just do whatever,” she said, waving her hand dismissingly and leaning further back into the big chair. “Enjoy your time back home, ‘cause it might be a while before we can send you back to work.”

“Why?” Naruto groaned. “How much longer do they need us on hold before they don’t suspect us anymore?!”

“Dunno,” Anko muttered irritably, clearly as bothered as Naruto about the situation. A deep frown appeared on her face and a crease formed between her eyebrows. She didn’t even bother composing herself or removing her pout before she pointed to the door, signaling the boys to leave. Naruto quickly grabbed Sasuke’s hand and dragged him out of the office, closing the door hurriedly behind them.

“You don’t wanna be there for the tantrum she’s about to throw,” Naruto explained at the confused look on Sasuke’s face. “Come on, I’ll show you were we keep the flying reindeers.”

“The flying reindeers are real?” Sasuke asked incredulously. Naruto laughed.

“Your magical elf gives you a ticket for a train that will take you to another dimension, fine, but flying reindeers are just too weird for you? “

Sasuke laughed, seeing the humor in it. On their way out they were stopped at the door by Sakura and a blonde girl calling for Naruto.

“Oh, hey Sakura, Ino,” he greeted smilingly. “We’re not need today.”

The girls nodded with sour expressions on their faces and Sasuke couldn’t help but be amazed at the collective dedication to work in Yule Land. A day off really wasn’t a hit around here. Ino looked Sasuke up and down and smiled approvingly to Sakura, as if they were sharing some secret information. Naruto glared at the exchange between the two and pushed Sasuke out of the building, yelling his goodbye to the girls.

They walked even further away from the town center until they reached a mountain in the distance. At the foot of the mountain were big stable doors. On top were a huge sign informing them that this was indeed the stables, in case of doubt. As the doors weren’t shot the two of them entered and were greeted by the heavy stench of hay and animals.

A long-haired girl was pouring a bucket of water into an open container in one of the stalls. The big reindeer within it happily gulped down the fluid but made a noise as it caught sight of Naruto and Sasuke, causing the girl to look up as well.

“N-Naruto,” she greeting stutteringly and pulled a strand of dark hair behind her ear. “H-how are you?”

“Hello Hinata” Naruto greeted and helpfully took the large bucket from the girl. “I’m great, thanks. You?”

“Fine, thank you,” she smiled and eyed Sasuke questioningly.

“Oh, sorry. This is Sasuke. He’s visiting,” Naruto explained.

The girl aimed a friendly smile at Sasuke. “N-nice to m-meet you, Sasuke. I hope you’ll enjoy your stay.”

He was about to thank the girl but jumped in surprise as a big-ass reindeer came running from around a corner towards him. A brown-haired guy came running behind it, panic written on his face.

“No, Buster! No!!”


	14. Chapter 13

In his terror-frozen state, Sasuke could only watch as the large animal galloped towards him. The guy behind it flailed his glowing hands but nothing he did seemed to have the desired effect. Hinata acted fast, she jumped in front of Sasuke and placed a white-glowing hand on the reindeer’s chest. Buster calmed and stopped instantly, pausing just in front of the tiny girl. She petted the animal’s head soothingly and whispered sweet words into its ear. The guy came running up behind it, looking utterly exhausted.

“Man, Hinata,” he grinned. “What would I do without you?”

The girl blushed and hid her face in the reindeer’s neck. “Y-you almost c-caught him anyway, Kiba.”

The guy, Kiba, laughed and scratched the back of his head. “I did, didn’t I?” Then he caught sight of Naruto and loudly yelled, “Naruto! You’re back!” They high-fived.

“Yup,” Naruto smiled. “They still suspect us in Accounting so I can’t leave. And Anko didn’t have anything for me, so here I am!”

“Sucks,” Kiba sighed. “Kurenai could never give us a day off. The animals don’t take care of themselves, now do they?”

He looked to Sasuke. “And you are?”

“That’s Sasuke. He’s one of my kids,” Naruto explained. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the ‘kid’-thing but decided not to comment on it. Kiba nodded in comprehension.

“And you figured you’d show him the flying deer?” Kiba smirked. Naruto nodded. “Well, then. Wouldn’t wanna disappoint, would we? Come on. Bijou’s out for her training anyway.”

Kiba and Hinata led them down the stable past at least forty reindeer until they reached another door to the outside. Outside was a landing strip, drawn with chalk on the dirt (the only place around not covered in snow. A slim deer stood proudly by the beginning of the lane.

“Hello Bijou,” Kiba greeted the animal lovingly, stroking its fur. “Wanna show ‘em what you can do?”

The animal made a noise sounding like a snort before turning to face the lane, looking upwards. Sasuke followed the deer’s gaze and was stunned to see what appeared to be an obstacle course floating far up in the sky.

“Alright, gorgeous. You know the drill,” Kiba said. “Ready, set, go!”

Bijou ran down the landing strip, faster and faster until her hooves lifted off the ground and she rode upwards. She ran galloped upwards higher and higher towards the floating obstacles. Sasuke watched in awe as the reindeer galloped through hoops and maneuvered between poles. After diving and twisting in the air, the showoff of a reindeer landed neatly on the landing strip. Kiba rolled his eyes as the animal actually bowed for Sasuke and Naruto. Hinata petted the deer lovingly and led it back to the stables.

“Hey, do you guys mind asking the Crafters if they’ve finished the reins our deer will be wearing for the big trip?” Kiba asked.

“Not at all,” Naruto smiled as he began walking back towards the stable to leave. Sasuke followed him quietly.

“Thanks man,” Kiba grinned gratefully and whistled loudly. A big white dog came running from somewhere down the lane, wildly wagging its tail as it sat down in front of Kiba. Naruto took hold of Sasuke’s hand and dragged him away.

“Sooo, where are we going?” Sasuke asked in confusion as they left the stable and the mountain and ventured back into town.

“The Fabric,” Naruto answered. “Where the toys and our equipment are made. As I’m sure you can imagine, most elves end up as Crafters there since we need lots of stuff.”

Sasuke didn’t know if he should feel bad that most elves wound up there. It didn’t sound as great of a job as Do-Gooder or reindeer caretaker. Then again, it wasn’t like the elves he’d already met hated their job so maybe the ones in the fabric didn’t mind working either.

They walked towards the center of the town where they reached a collection of long cozy-looking houses. Signs told them which houses were ‘Kitchen’, ‘Electronics’, ‘Woodshop’ and so on. They entered the house labeled ‘Equipment’. Inside the house were at least fifty round tables with chairs around them. Busy elves worked at every table while chatting happily amongst each other. Two elves standing by a coffeemaker caught sight of Naruto and waved him over.

“Naruto!!” the black-haired male exclaimed with loud enthusiasm. “How marvelous to see you!!”

“Hello Lee,” Naruto grinned. He turned to the brunette girl standing next to him. “Hi Tenten.”

“Hi Naruto,” she smiled. “What brings you here?”

“The Tamers want to know whether or not you’ve finished the reins yet?” he told them.

Tenten and Lee looked at each other. “I’ll go ask Gai!!” Lee exclaimed and ran off to the opposite end of the long house. He sure was… enthusiastic, Sasuke thought. Tenten and Naruto exchanged exhausted facial expressions.

“So, Accounting still picking on you guys?” she asked. Naruto nodded sadly. “They ought to leave you guys alone. If they’re really interested in optimizing the magic acquisition they should let you get back to work.”

Lee came running back to them, gasping for his breath. Sasuke briefly wondered why the elf didn’t just use magic to move if it really was that urgent.

“So?” Tenten asked.

“It’s done, we’re to bring it to them now!” Lee said, punching a fist in the air. Tenten sighed and snapped her fingers, making a uniform jacket appear on her.

“Fine, let’s go,” she said. “Good seeing you again, Naruto.”

Lee spurted out the door and Tenten waved her goodbye to the boys as she followed him at a considerably slower pace. Naruto eyed the time on the big clock on the wall.

“We should go see Kyuubi before lunch,” Naruto muttered, mostly to himself, and once more took hold of Sasuke’s hand.

“Where does he live?” Sasuke asked.

“Close to me, but I figured we should see if he’s at work first,” Naruto answered. Sasuke raised a doubtful eyebrow at him to which Naruto chuckled. “Okay, fine. It’s not that likely but I’d like to check anyways.”

“Alright. Where did he work again?” Sasuke asked the elf that was now dragging him towards the edge of the town.

“He’s a Guard. They’re located by the Wall,” Naruto explained and then saw the look on Sasuke’s face. “It’s our defense system. It’s where the veil comes from.”

As they reached their destination Sasuke could see why it would be called ‘the Wall’. The giant stone construction greatly reminded him of the pictures he’d seen of the Great Wall in China. On top of it walked big uniform-clad elves. All of them looked at least as tough as Kyuubi and some even carried weapons and had their faces hidden in the shadow of hoods.

As they stood by the bottom of the wall, Naruto waved a glowing hand at one of the Guards. The guard swiftly jumped straight off the wall and landed soundlessly in front of the two boys. He pushed back his hood, revealing hair as red as blood. He wore an intimidation expression, accompanied by a tattoo on his forehead.

“Hey Gaara,” Naruto grinned, and Sasuke was genuinely surprised when the two elves hugged. When they pulled apart, Gaara eyed Sasuke with obvious dislike and suspicion. “This is Sasuke. One of my kids.”

“And you brought him here?” Gaara asked. Clearly waiting for a reasonably explanation. Naruto decided not to give him one, though, and quickly asked, “Is Kyuubi here?”

The redhead snorted and shook his head. “Of course he’s not.”

“Very well then,” Naruto sighed gloomily. “We’ll go check at his house then. Come on, Sasu-chan.” A white-haired man on top of the wall signaled to Gaara and the Guard Elf transported himself back up.

“Bye Gaara, bye Kakashi!” Naruto yelled up the wall. The two elves waved back at him before turning their attention back to the magical veil coming out of the wall a little further down.

As they walked back to town, Sasuke couldn’t help but ask the blond about the hug he’d shared with Gaara. Naruto hadn’t hugged any of the other elves – and the special treatment of the redhead really bothered him. Naruto just shrugged.

“He’s my best friend in Yule Land. We hung out all the time as kids, before we got our jobs,” Naruto said as they neared the area with elf-homes. “This is the place.”

And sure enough, Kyuubi’s name was engraved on the metal plate on the door. The house looked completely identical to Naruto’s – except even more abandoned-looking. Naruto knocked politely on the door, and the two waited as the heard swearing and the sound of things falling to the ground. Kyuubi opened the door, wearing an open shirt and with hair even messier than usual. He saw Sasuke next to his brother.

“Well, Shorty. Finally bent the rules a bit, huh?” Kyuubi smirked. “So proud. What do you want?”

Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. “We were just wondering if you wh-“ Naruto blinked. “YOU DIDN’T?!!”

Confused, Sasuke turned his gaze to the point behind Kyuubi where Naruto was looking. He gasped as he recognized the black-haired man standing shirtless in the kitchen.

_“Itachi?!”_


	15. Chapter 14

Lunch was awkward. _Really awkward._ Sasuke had blissfully forgotten about his brother and Kyuubi having sex during his time in Yule Land, and he was not appreciative about it being shoved in his face again. As the four of them sat by the dinner table in Kyuubi’s kitchen, Sasuke’s eye couldn’t stop twitching at the sight of the obviously post-coital Kyuubi and Itachi. Naruto had resumed his way of sitting as close to Sasuke’s as possible whilst keeping an eye on his brother.

It would appear that Kyuubi knew more about the human diet than Naruto as their lunch consisted of chicken and salad. Naruto poked the green stuff with his fork as if doubting its edibility. Kyuubi and Itachi were exchanging smirks at every twitch Sasuke’s eye made at their closeness. He was happy that his brother had someone, really, but he did not want to see it. Ever. He pretended not to notice Kyuubi’s hand sliding up his brother’s thigh, he ignored the smirk his brother sent the elf in return and he totally didn’t see the scratch marks on Itachi’s bare chest.

“So, Shorty. What finally made you use one of your tickets?” Kyuubi asked with a grin. “Since I assume you went the goody-goody way and actually made him take the train.”

“None of your business,” Naruto answered and glared at the other elf. Kyuubi laughed.

“He just asked you to, didn’t he?” Kyuubi smirked. “You really can’t tell your kids ‘no’, huh?”

Naruto ignored him and eyed a tomato with distaste, pushing it around on the plate. Kyuubi laughed. Sasuke had to admit, he couldn’t remember Naruto ever telling him no. Maybe it was a Do-Gooder-thing, or was it a Naruto-thing?

“Why did you bring Itachi here?” Naruto spat back. “And how? Don’t tell me you used your own magic?”

Kyuubi winked. “I brought him here ‘cause if I didn’t, who would take care of him?” Itachi raised an eyebrow at that. “And no, I didn’t use _my_ magic, I borrowed a portal.”

Naruto shook his head at him in disapproval and went back to his meal. The blond elf glared at the food before discreetly pointing a glowing finger at it, transforming it into a piece of lemon pie. Sasuke smiled at him. Naruto really was adorable. As they finished their food Kyuubi stood abruptly from his chair.

“Alright, kiddies, it was so nice to see you but now I would really like you to leave so Itachi and I can return to our _plans_ for the day, and night,” he smirked and pointed to the door. Sasuke’s eye’s twitching worsened and Naruto quickly took hold of his hand and dragged him outside. The door closed forcefully by itself as soon as they were out of the house. A loud noise came from within and as they passed the window, Sasuke caught a glimpse of his brother pinning the orange-haired elf to the wall to explain it. Naruto noticed his repulsion and pulled him away from the house even faster.

Naruto led him back to his house, taking him to the armchairs by the fire. “Sit down,” the elf instructed. Naruto didn’t sit down in the chair across from him, though, but instead placed himself by Sasuke’s feet. The elf put a soothing hand on Sasuke’s knee and looked up at him with big concerned blue eyes, asking him if he was alright. Sasuke saw his reflection in the glass of a picture hanging on the opposite wall and realized why Naruto was smothering him again; he looked horrible, pale and wide-eyed.

Sasuke poised himself and ran his hand through the elf’s hair. Naruto smiled and leaned into Sasuke’s hand in contentment. Then Sasuke remembered something Sakura had said about Naruto spending an awful lot of time on someone who might not need him as much as, say, a sick child.

“Naruto, how exactly have you been watching out for your past assignments?” Sasuke asked the elf. Naruto looked up at him in doubt. Was he not supposed to tell? The elf finally nodded to himself before drawing a square with his glowing finger. A wooden box appeared in Naruto’s lap, the elf’s name engraved in it. Naruto removed the lid and let Sasuke look at its content. Inside the box were a lot of glass balls in every color of the rainbow. Some of them had a healthy-looking glow to them, others flickered and some were just plain dead to look at. Naruto gently lifted a red one out of the box. It shone brighter than most of them, which appeared to please the elf greatly. Naruto handed it carefully to Sasuke who held it cautiously between his thumb and index finger.

“Look through it,” the blond said patiently. Sasuke lifted the orb to eye level and looked through the red glass. He nearly dropped the ball in shock as he saw a little version of himself, looking into a glass orb. He looked to the elf.

“You can see us _literally_??” he asked incredulously. The elf nodded cautiously and watched his reaction closely.

“Are you mad?” he asked in a tiny voice. Sasuke gazed at the big-eyed elf sitting by his feet and shook his head. How could anyone possibly be mad at someone like Naruto? He handed the elf his orb back. Naruto carefully placed it back into the box.

“This is kind of the big secret of my department,” he explained, trusting him completely. “Accounting thinks that we don’t have a way of keeping track of our kids and we don’t tell them that we do.”

Sasuke nodded his head understandingly and resumed his action of petting the blonde locks. Naruto made the box disappear and leaned his head on Sasuke’s knee.

“Why did you come back to me?” Sasuke asked. The elf looked up at him in alarm. “Not that I mind. I’m happy you did. Just curious, since I probably don’t need you as much as other people.”

Naruto blushed and turned his gaze to the floor, drawing mindless patterns into the wood with his finger.

“Naruto?”

“I don’t know,” the Do-Gooder admitted. “I just really wanted to.”

 


	16. Chapter 15

Naruto had remained silent for a while, still drawing patterns into the floor. Sasuke smirked at the blush on the elf’s cheeks. He twirled a lock of the elf’s blonde hair around his finger and watched as the light from the fireplace reflected in it. He moved his other hand to caress Naruto’s cheek, turning his face to look back up at him. He slid down to the floor to sit in front of Naruto as he leaned his forehead against the elf’s.

“Well, as I said,” he mumbled in the most seductive voice he could muster. “I’m really glad you came back.” The elf’s eyes darkened as Sasuke leaned in to kiss the elf. Their lips moved against each other and eventually parted for their tongues to meet. The elf sighed contently into Sasuke’s mouth and the teen smirked. Sasuke let his hands fall from the elf’s face and hair to pull him onto his lap. Naruto’s fingers buried themselves in Sasuke’s hair, pulling a bit and making the human moan against his lips.

As they pulled apart for air Sasuke smirked at the flushed look on his Do-Gooder’s face and leaned in to kiss the corner of Naruto’s mouth. The elf tightened his grip on Sasuke’s hair and turned the teen to catch his lips again. Smirking against the other’s mouth, Sasuke pulled the elf impossibly close to his chest.

_SLAAM!_

The two jumped in shock and fear to look at the door that had been rudely slammed open by Kyuubi. The orange-haired Guard smirked evilly at the sight of the entangled boys. He leaned on the doorframe and shook his head in amusement.

“Well, well, well,” he grinned. “Darling little Shorty actually did it.”

Naruto blushed scarlet and automatically moved even closer to Sasuke to shield him from Kyuubi like he always did, though at the same time he looked like he wanted to move as far away from the boy as possible. Sasuke glared irritably at Naruto’s brother, not at all amused at the interruption.

“Seriously, though,” Kyuubi continued. “How long did it take for innocent, naïve little you to realize you were in love?”

At the blond’s wide-eyed look the Guard laughed loudly. “You didn’t even realize?!” The older elf clutched his side as he continued to laugh uncontrollably. “You never _once_ stopped to wonder why you’ve been keeping an eye on the boy for the last three years!? You never even thought about _why_ you chose to rush to his side even though you had someone in Ireland who needed you more?”

Naruto was completely still, eyes still wide at Kyuubi’s accusation. Confused, he looked from his brother to Sasuke, and back to his brother again.

“I-I,” he began, trying to deny it but failing to finish the sentence. Kyuubi ran a hand through the orange locks, laugh now reduced to a chuckle.

“Wow, you really can be slow sometimes, Naruto,” he said, voice almost sounding sympathetic. “Well, I’m actually here to tell you that Orochimaru wants to see you. So, whenever you’re ready, bro.”

With those words Kyuubi turned around and left the two boys alone, shutting the door just as harshly as he had opened it.

Sasuke stared at the abused door before moving his gaze to Naruto who was eying him with a strange look on his face. Sasuke felt worried for a moment. Had something changed? Would Naruto have to send him back home now? Was Kyuubi telling the truth or just messing with Naruto’s head?

“Narut-“

“He’s right,” the elf mumbled. Sounding almost astounded by his own words, he moved his hand up to his lips.

“What?” Sasuke asked, dumbfounded.

“He’s right. I don’t know why I never thought about it before,” Naruto spoke softly. “I just… I guess, I never really considered the amount of time I’ve been watching you. Waiting for you to need me again.”

Then the elf inspected Sasuke’s face closely. “I’m sorry, this must be an awful lot to spring on you.”

Sasuke laughed. “Do I seem like I’d mind?” Naruto laughed and shook his head in amusement before leaned up to regain access to Sasuke’s lips. After a tender kiss the elf rested his forehead on Sasuke’s shoulder.

“.. I love you,” Naruto said in amusement before chuckling. “It all makes sense now. I love you!”

“You _love_ me?” Sasuke asked teasingly.

“I love you!” Naruto beamed, insanely proud of his conclusion.

“Good, ‘cause I love you, too,” Sasuke smirked and kissed the elf’s temple. Naruto grinned at him with a pleased look on his face before freezing.

“What’s wrong?” the teen asked as he wondered if he’d done something wrong. The elf sighed.

“Kyuubi said Orochimaru wanted to see me, didn’t he?” Naruto groaned. Sasuke nodded. “Dammit. I hate that guy.”

“Who is he?” Sasuke asked, mildly disturbed by the apparent fact that there actually existed a person that Naruto openly disliked.

“Orochimaru is the head of Accounting. He probably wants to ask me more questions about the lost paperwork,” Naruto sighed exhaustedly. “I know he’s just doing his job like the rest of us but he’s just really, really creepy.”

Sasuke rubbed soothing circles into Naruto’s back and kissed the elf’s forehead lovingly. He wasn’t sure how an elf could be creepy but that might just be due to overexposure to the cute Naruto. Some of the Guards on the Wall had looked a bit intimidating but none of them had struck him as ‘really, really creepy’. He’d seen Naruto talk to the dirtiest of homeless, the most disgusting of drunks and yet he’d never seen the blond looking as repelled as he did now. It actually made Sasuke freakishly curious to see this Orochimaru-guy.

“Do you have to go now?” Sasuke asked. Naruto looked like he wished he could say no.

“Yes, I do. You don’t mess with Orochimaru. If he tells you to come, you’d better do so as fast as elfly possible,” the blond answered regretfully as he reluctantly removed himself from Sasuke’s lap. Sasuke sighed at the loss of contact.

“Can I come?” he asked in his most pleading voice and watched as Naruto’s pleasing nature kicked in.

“Er, sure,” Naruto said. “But you can’t follow me into his office. You’ll have to stay with the elves of Accounting while I’m in there.”

Sasuke nodded in agreement and got up to follow his elf outside. The street looked less busy than usual as the two made their way to the biggest, most boring house of the town. It was the only building Sasuke had seen in town that was made of bricks. The elves within the building all wore serious expressions and stiff postures. They sat by very long tables with even longer scrolls lying on them. Most of the elves’ heads were bent over the paperwork, reading it closely while taking notes on a pad next to it. Sasuke didn’t at all fell as comfortable in Accounting as he had with other elves. The ‘Counters’ – as Naruto called them – took their jobs even more serious than other elves, which Sasuke found _very_ disturbing.

He followed the blond to the end of the room where a bunch of uncomfortable-looking chairs neatly placed in front of a door. Naruto told him to sit in one of the chairs while he went to knock on the door. At the third knock the door opened slowly by itself with a creepy squeak.

“ _Enter,_ ” came a scary voice from inside. Naruto paled and looked back to Sasuke one last time before entering the room, the door closing by itself behind him.


	17. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter has some OC's because I was running out of Naruto characters - I know there are more, but I couldn't be bothered to look them up (Googling is hard!). Anyways, sorry for the OCs

* * *

 

_As usual, the presence of Orochimaru intimidated Naruto greatly. The tall man leaned across the table and Naruto could practically_ feel _the other’s breath on his face, just as he almost thought he could smell his grease on the long black hair._

_“So,” the man began in his hissing voice. “I hear you’ve been spending an awful lot of time with a human recently. I understand you even brought him here.”_

_“I did,” Naruto said. “I didn’t have any assignments.”_

_Orochimaru’s eyes held a sneaky gleam and Naruto braced himself for what he knew was bound to happen._

_“He’s one of your previous assignments, correct?” the man inquired. Naruto nodded. “So, you have been keeping in touch with him.”_

_Naruto shrugged and prayed that whatever magic his appearance had to convince humans he was sweet and innocent would work on the Accounting’s Supervisor. It would appear that it didn’t._

_“How?” the man hissed. Naruto wanted to curl into a ball on the floor but kept his posture upright as he gave the Do-Gooder standard answer._

_“No particular way. I ran into him coincidentally.”_

_Orochimaru didn’t at all look pleased. He slammed his hand into the wooden desk, causing Naruto to jump a little bit. Everything about the man said that he wasn’t just going to leave the mystery of the Do-Gooder’s unresolved. Naruto would have smirked if he hadn’t been in the company of the scary man. Do-Gooder’s were the most loyal elves in Yule Land. Not one of them would expose their secret for anything._

_“Are we done here?” Naruto asked in his most polite tone of voice. “I haven’t been back in Yule Land for almost a year so I really shouldn’t be under any suspicion. Other than that, since you have no clear evidence of me doing anything wrong, I’d very much like to leave.”_

* * *

 

Sasuke sat on the uncomfortable chair in what seemed like forever. A few of the Counters had eyed him suspiciously a few times and after a while, one of them left his table to sit in a chair across from him. The boy had a tired expression on his face and kept his messy dark hair in a tight ponytail, making his pointy ears very visible.

“So, you’re the human Naruto’s been spending all his time and magic on,” the guy said. “How troublesome.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. “So what if I am?”

“No reason,” the guy shrugged. “Naruto’s magic isn’t part of my work load so I really could care less.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Sasuke asked in confusion.

“No problem. I’m just taking a break and this is the only place without paperwork lying around. Even our break room’s full of work. Work, work, work. So troublesome,” the elf whined. He eyed Sasuke for a few seconds.

“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me how he’s been keeping an eye on you for the past ten years?” the elf asked unenthusiastically.

“No?” Sasuke answered, brows furrowing in confusion.

“Thought as much,” the Counter shrugged.

“Then why are you asking?” Sasuke asked. The elf sighed in exasperation.

“Because Orochimaru keeps bugging us to figure it out,” he said. “Some of us haven’t been home in weeks because he wants us to figure it out, find the lost paperwork _and_ work our usual assignments all at the same time. Troublesome!”

It made a little bit more sense to Sasuke why the elf wanted to talk to him. If he’d been stuck in this building for weeks, working, he’d probably talk to just about anyone from the outside, too.

“Shikamaru!” Another elf called from the nearest table. “Leave the human alone and get back to work!”

Shikamaru sighed irritably and got off the chair to get back to work.

The door next to him opened and a very pale yet somewhat smug Naruto came out. The door slammed shut behind him and as soon as it did, Naruto let out a relieved sigh. He looked to Sasuke who instantly jumped up to stand beside him.

“You’ okay?” Sasuke asked the elf as they hurried out of the building. Naruto nodded.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Didn’t say anything I shouldn’t and they have nothing else on me,” the Do-Gooder explained. “Let’s go to the Kitchen. It’s dinnertime.”

Sasuke nodded and allowed the elf to drag him back to the fabric area. They entered the building titled ‘Kitchen’ and passed through a big crowd of cooking elves. A lot of them were covered in flour but all of them wore happy smiles on their faces – a nice change from the horribly serious faces in Accounting.

A smiling girl with curly auburn hair waved enthusiastically at Naruto and bounced over. Her apron had chocolate stains on it and so did her face.

“Hey Amira,” Naruto greeted her and accepted her big hug. Even though Naruto was short person, the girl was at least a head’s length shorter than him. She turned to Sasuke.

“Oh, and you must be one of his children!” she exclaimed and threw her arms around him. He patted her awkwardly on her back and ignored Naruto’s quiet laughter. “How wonderful to meet you!”

“Got any food for us, Amira?” Naruto asked the girl as she let go of Sasuke. Her green eyes widened in excitement.

“You bet!” she grinned and signaled for them to follow her through the building. The made it to another room, a room full or tables and chairs. Naruto caught sight of a small child sitting alone by one of the tables and looked to Amira questioningly.

“That’s Lucia,” the girl explained with a sad look on her face. “She’s a guest, too, but her Do-Gooder was called out to an emergency.”

Naruto nodded and sat down next to the girl. The girl had a pale complexion and looked rather fragile. Sasuke guessed she was probably one of those ‘dying children’ who were usually brought to the town. It tore on his heartstrings. The girl didn’t look much older than five. He sat down across from Naruto.

“Hello,” Naruto said in a kind voice. “My name’s Naruto and this is Sasuke. What’s your name?”

The girl hid a bit behind her light blonde hair before answering in a tiny voice, “Lucia.”

“Very nice to meet you,” Naruto smiled. “Who are you here with?”

“Arrow,” the girl answered, easing up a bit at Naruto’s non-threatening aura. “He’s out.”

Naruto nodded in acknowledgement of the name. He knew the elf apparently. Amira came back from the kitchen with three plates of food floating after her. She snapped her fingers and the plates landed in front of Sasuke, Naruto and Lucia. Lucia didn’t look like she had any appetite at all and just poked the food with her fork. Naruto had a plate of baked goods that he happily duck into while Sasuke was relieved to see a steak with potatoes for him.

As they ate their dinner, other elves entered as well, some of which Sasuke recognized from earlier. Naruto talked pleasantly with the little girl as if to distract her from her obvious nausea. Sasuke watched him and smiled contently as he could clearly remember how Naruto had acted around him when he was a child. The girl opened up a bit after a while, telling them about her family back home.

After a while a boy who looked to be the same age as Naruto entered the room, looking around until his brown eyes landed on Lucia. A smile spread on his charming face and he went to sit on the other side of her.

“Hello princess,” he greeted her and winked. The girl giggled cutely. The boy looked up to look at Naruto. “Thanks for keeping her company, Naruto. I had to see an old assignment of mine. There was an accident so I had to make sure he was okay.”

Naruto nodded understandingly. “No problem, Arrow. We were just eating dinner anyway.”

Arrow shook some snow out of his auburn hair and waved at Amira who grinned and went to get him a plate of food.

“Thanks, sis,” he smiled appreciatively as the food was placed in front of him. Arrow looked around the room again as he began to eat.

“Something wrong?” Naruto asked. Arrow furrowed his brows.

“Sai’s missing,” he said. “And Kabuto. No one’s seen them for weeks. There’s no track of them.”

“What?” Naruto said wide-eyed. “But Sai’s a Guard. And Kabuto’s a Counter. Neither of them is allowed to leave town without Mr. Santa’s permission?!”

Arrow nodded solemnly and nudged the little girl next to him, attempting to get her to at least try some soup. “I know. It’s really strange. I mean, don’t you think it’s a little suspicious that someone from Accounting goes missing – and so does a load of their paperwork? Especially when the Guard assigned to protect those specific types of papers goes missing as well?”

“That is suspicious,” Naruto muttered and narrowed his blue eyes.


	18. Chapter 17

Naruto and Arrow didn’t talk much about the missing elves for the rest of dinner, but instead focused their energy on making little Lucia laugh and eat. The girl’s mood had brightened considerably in no time and it made Sasuke pleased. The smile on the girl lit up her sick features, making her seem less tiny and fragile.

When they left the Kitchen Naruto’s had a content smile on his face, all his worries from the conversation with Orochimaru completely forgotten. As they walked through the town the streets were once again filled with elves. Sasuke recognized a lot of them from the Do-Gooder’s Headquarters, like Ino and Sakura who were bickering in front of one of the little houses.

Naruto groaned as they caught sight of him and waved him over. The girls eagerly began explaining how the two of them had been eating dinner together in Paris (Naruto glared disapprovingly at their confessions about having left town) and the waiter had winked towards the table.

“… and he was so looking at me!” Ino concluded.

“Was not! His eyes were on me!” Sakura spat.

“Like hell, Forehead!”

“Shut it, Pig!!”

Naruto groaned again. “And you want me here _because_ …?” The girls blinked, neither of them remembering what they needed the blond to solve in the first place. Sasuke decided it was probably his turn to save Naruto and grabbed the elf’s hand.

“I’m terribly sorry, ladies, but Naruto and I were on our way to visit our brothers. Please excuse us,” he smiled charmingly and dragged Naruto away, waving cheerfully at the girls who eyed their joined hands with girly giggles.

“We’re not really going to see Itachi and Kyuubi, right?” Naruto asked after a few minutes of walking in the direction of his house.

“Of course not,” Sasuke grinned.

“Good, ‘cause they’re probably not done yet,” Naruto mumbled. Sasuke groaned at the words. He did not need the mental images that followed that statement. They reached Naruto’s house and the two sat themselves on the floor in front of the fire. Naruto was back in Sasuke’s lap and practically purring as the teen’s fingers combed through his hair. The elf nuzzled his face into the nook of Sasuke’s neck and sighed. Sasuke watched the fire as it appeared to be reducing to weak embers, he frowned at a thought that had been bothering him a lot.

“That little girl, Lucia,” he began. “She’s not going to make it is she? I mean, that’s why Arrow brought her here, right?”

Naruto let out a shallow breath and placed his hand over Sasuke’s heart. “No. She’s not going to make it.”

“And those other kids on the train?”

“Same.”

A heavy silence followed. Sasuke looked back into the fire. A single flame stood tall over the rest of the embers. It was shaking and flickering as it desperately held on to the wood. Then it fell short and joined the rest of the embers.

“That’s awful,” he muttered. Naruto nodded. “Have you had any of those assignments?”

Naruto’s shoulders lowered and the elf nodded sadly. “Twelve of them.”

Sasuke kissed the elf’s hair in sympathy. “Did you bring any of them here?” he asked. Naruto clutched the fabric under the hand he’d placed on Sasuke’s heart.

“Just one,” he whispered. “She died the day after I brought her back home. Maddy Borris. Seven years old. Leukemia. Born on March 6th 1962, died December 27th 1969\. She was very allergic to animals so I gave her a bunny plushie instead. She brought it with her on her trip… and held it in her arms when she died.”

Sasuke looked down to see tears traveling from Naruto’s eyes to his shirt.

“You remember her well,” Sasuke said and rubbed the blond’s back.

“I remember everything about every child I’ve ever visited,” Naruto mumbled and wiped the tears away from his face. “I still have the bunny in my room.”

Sasuke cupped the elf’s face and kissed him tenderly on the lips.

“Just like I remember you,” Naruto said and played with a lock of Sasuke’s bangs. “Sasuke Uchiha, five years old, domestic disharmony. Born July 23rd sixteen years ago. You loved snow, butterflies and stuffed animals with long fur.”

Sasuke smirked and kissed the elf again. Naruto cuddled even closer to his old assignment and sighed contently.

Then a loud banging on the front door ruined their moment. Naruto looked up in alert. The only person Sasuke had met so far who was that noisy was Kyuubi, and he rarely bothered knocking.

“Who is it?” Naruto asked the door.

“Guards,” a voice sounded from outside. “Open up, please.”

Naruto got to his feet and snapped his fingers to unlock the door. Sasuke barely got to his feet before four Guards stood in Naruto’s living room. He didn’t recognize any of them. A tall broad one came forth and said in a deep voice.

“Naruto. We’ve received word that you have allowed an unregistered human to enter our world and hide in your house. We’re here to take the boy into custody and investigate the case.”

Naruto glared at the man. “He _is_ registered. He came here on the Express. Tamari checked him. I gave him a ticket.”

“Is that so?” the man snorted. “Well, my sources beg to differ. Ticket, please?”

The man held his hand out to Sasuke expectantly. Sasuke searched through his pocket for the ticket. It wasn’t there. A nasty cold shiver ran through him. He didn’t know where the ticket was. The guard smirked evilly.

“Well, then. You’re officially being taken into our custody.”


	19. Chapter 18

Despite Naruto’s protests the Guards grabbed Sasuke by the arm and forcefully pulled him out of the house. A large Guard had made sure Naruto wouldn’t be able to leave his house to follow them during the escort. Sasuke was now located in a dungeon-like room underneath the Wall. It was terribly cold in his locked room and Sasuke curled up on the futon matrass to keep warm.

No matter how many times he dug through his pockets and boots there was just no sign of his ticket. He tried to think back but he simply could not remember how he could have lost it. He wondered if Naruto was disappointed in him for losing the ticket and couldn’t help but feel like he’d let the elf down.

He glanced around the small room. Aside from the bed there wasn’t really anything else in there. The room was so narrow he felt slightly claustrophobic, making him pray that he didn’t have to be there for long. He’d been interviewed by the broad Guard on his way there but nothing he said could convince them that he had once been in possession of a ticket. He sighed and rubbed the sore spot on his upper warm where the Guard had been holding him.

A rustle outside the room made him look up from his self-pity. A hissing discussion was then followed by the unlocking of his cell-door. A familiar redheaded elf entered the room and shut the door behind him. The elf glared at Sasuke for a full five minutes before the teen finally couldn’t stand the staring anymore and broke the silence.

_“What?”_

“You’re causing Naruto trouble,” Gaara said stoically. Sasuke glared back at the elf but felt like hiding in shame and guilt. “He wouldn’t let you in here without a ticket. And you lost it.”

“It’s not like I lost in on purpose,” Sasuke spat irritably. “I could have sworn it was in my jeans.”

Gaara continued to glare. “You’re not even supposed to be here. Ticket or not. What exactly did you hope to achieve by coming here?”

“I wasn’t _hoping to achieve_ anything,” Sasuke said angrily. “I just wanted to-“

“Follow Naruto around like a lovesick puppy?” Gaara (quite correctly) finished his sentence. “What for? Even if Naruto does care for you it’s not like you’ve got an actual future with him.”

Sasuke wanted to say something back, but came up short. _We’re not immortals, Sasu-chan. We just age really slowly compared to humans. You humans really grow too fast for my liking._ Gaara was right. Sasuke was going to grow up, grow old and die while Naruto would probably still look like a teenager. Not to mention that Naruto’s entire life revolved around his work. He was going to live with his other assignments, just like he lived with Sasuke when he was a kid. Was Naruto even coming back home with him after Christmas?

“Now that we’ve established that,” Gaara continued as he saw his message sink in with the human. “Where have you been during your stay here?”

“Why does that matter?” Sasuke said in a depressed voice.

“I’m trying to figure out who stole your ticket,” the Guard explained.

* * *

 

_Naruto ran down the streets, carefully avoiding bumping into any other elves on the way. Sasuke wouldn’t have just lost the ticket. He knew the boy and he just wasn’t that careless. He knew Orochimaru was angry with him for not telling him the Secret but was that really enough reason for him to arrange for Sasuke to be sent home? Naruto was genuinely disturbed by how much energy Orochimaru was putting into finding out the Secret rather than investigating the disappearance of the paperwork. Especially when one of his Counters was missing along with one of the Guards assigned to look after Accounting._

_Naruto had made up his decision. He was going to have to report the whole thing to Santa. He reached the two large houses at the outskirts of the town; Mr. Santa’s house and Mama Santa’s house next to it. He ran past the Guards to the door – confused as he didn’t recognize any of them – and knocked violently on the door. Nothing happened. His knocking grew more insistent but no one opened._

_“What’s with all that damn noise!” a woman’s voice called out of the window of the other house._

_“It’s me, Tsunade. Naruto,” he told the blonde woman whose head was now hanging out the window. “I really need to talk to Santa!”_

_“He’s in a meeting with Accounting,” the leading lady of Christmas told him. “No one’s allowed in.”_

_“But it’s urgent!” Naruto insisted._

_“Then come in here, brat,” she sighed. “Tell me what’s on your heart and I’ll pass the message.”_

_He entered the other house and walked past Tsunade’s husband Jiraya who was snoring on the couch. The busty woman gestured for him to sit down. “What’s wrong?”_

_Naruto began explained the situation with Sasuke, the missing elves, the missing paperwork, Orochimaru’s strange behavior and the strange Guards outside of Santa’s house. Tsunade listened attentively like she was supposed to. She might not be the famous Santa who travelled around the world with presents but she held more knowledge of the town and its business than anyone else._

_“Well, let’s go fetch that human of yours,” she said as she stood from her chair. “I’m sure Tamari can count as a witness. She would never let him on board without a ticket.”_

* * *

 

Gaara had listened with great attention as Sasuke explained his entire stay in detail. The redhead nodded from time to time but never spoke a word of interruption. The Guard was deep in thought at the end of Sasuke’s explanation.

“So, you’re saying that Naruto refused to tell Orochimaru even though he asked directly?” Gaara asked. Sasuke nodded. “The old creep must really be up to something if he cares more about that than the disappearances of our elves.”

“Elves can be up to something?” Sasuke asked skeptically.

“Not all elves are good and sweet like the Do-Gooders,” Gaara said. “And there are few things worse than a magical creature with ambitions.”


	20. Chapter 19

Naruto arrived a little while later with a tall blonde woman following him. As they entered and the woman moved Sasuke saw Tamari from the train stand behind her. She nodded towards the Guards in the hall behind her.

“I’m one hundred percent certain, you guys. That boy had a valid ticked when I last saw him,” the girl said with great authority in her voice. The Guards looked from her to the tall blonde lady beside Naruto.

“Well, what the hell are you waiting for, then. Release him!” the woman ordered. The Guards straightened their backs at her order.

“Yes, Mama Tsunade,” the broad Guard yelped and stepped aside for Sasuke to leave. Naruto grinned victoriously at him and gestured for him to come. Sasuke followed Naruto, Tsunade, Gaara and Tamari out of the dungeon underneath the Wall and sighed with relief as the fresh cake-scented air hit him outside. Naruto smiled reassuringly at him and took his hand. Tsunade gestured for the group to stop as they reached the town. She turned around to face Naruto.

“Naruto,” she said with sudden alertness in her voice. “Did you say you didn’t recognize the Guards in front of Santa’s house?”

Naruto nodded seriously. “Not a single one of them.”

Tsunade opened her mouth to say something but stopped as the ground shook underneath them. Naruto held Sasuke’s hand tightly until the earth finally stopped shaking. A loud explosion sounded from the other end of town.

The four elves looked up in alarm. “Santa’s house!” Tamari shrieked and held up a hand to her mouth. The elves began running towards the sound. It was very difficult to run with so much panic and chaos in the streets, all the elves of the town seemed to be outside at once.

Tall tough-looking elves stood in a circle formation around the big house Naruto had told him Santa lived in. “Don’t know those either,” Naruto mumbled next to him. Tsunade’s face grew dark.

“I think you guys should go somewhere safe. The _real_ Guards must surely be on their way,” she said. Tamari and Gaara stayed with the blonde woman as Naruto dragged Sasuke in the opposite direction. The Do-Gooder’s usually happy face was marred with a worried frown as some extremely black smoke arose from every possible exit of Santa’s house.

“Why don’t they just enter?” Sasuke wondered out loud. Naruto’s dragging became less insistent as he went down some of the much narrower streets of the town.

“The people standing outside of the house are Barriers. There not technically elves but close enough that you don’t notice straight away. When united they can form an impenetrable magical barrier,” Naruto explained. “We can’t get through until they move.”

Naruto led him through a maze of small streets and alleyways until they were back near the houses where Naruto and Kyuubi lived. The noise of yelling and screaming sounded from the larger streets as black shadows circled around town in the sky. Naruto had stopped to look up the figures in the sky, eyes wide.

“Black magic,” he mumbled. “No one in this dimension should be able to do that.”

Sasuke was about to ask him about the shadows but yelped in surprise as a cold hand was placed on his shoulder. Turning around he sighed audibly at the sight of his brother.

“Are you alright?” Itachi asked worriedly, an unfamiliar edge of panic in his voice. “First we here that you’ve been arrested, then all of this happens – have you any idea of what’s going on?”

“I’m fine,” Sasuke answered as Kyuubi came up from behind Itachi. “And no. I really don’t?”

“Shorty?” Kyuubi asked his little brother with a look that clearly indicated that he believed Naruto had to know something.

“I’m guessing Orochimaru,” Naruto answered. “He hasn’t cared about the missing paperwork OR the missing elves. And now Santa’s house in shielded with Barriers – just as he was supposed to be in a meeting with Orochimaru.”

Kyuubi nodded. “Makes sense. That freak’s crazy.”

A shriek sounded in the distance. “They’re shipping the humans back,” Kyuubi explained before looking to the Uchiha brothers. “You guys should probably get on that train.”

“Absolutely not!” Sasuke protested. “I’m not just _leaving_ because there’s trouble!” Itachi didn’t say anything but nodded in agreement. His eyes showed sign of mostly wanting to stay because of Sasuke, though, as he eyed his brother protectively.

“Suit yourselves,” Kyuubi shrugged. Naruto didn’t succumb that easily.

“No way in Hell!” the little elf complained. “If there’s black magic in use, this place could get really dangerous!”

Somehow Sasuke felt like no matter how hard he pleaded there was one thing that ranked higher in Naruto’s world than what his children wanted; their safety. The blond’s finger lit up and he drew a large circle in the air. Sasuke gasped as his chest was pressed tight and his vision went white. He closed his eyes to escape the brightness and when he opened them he was back at the icy platform. The Yule Express stood proudly and ready to go. Tamari was in the process of guiding the children back on the train, and a few older looking people who Sasuke guessed must have arrived before him.

The conductor caught sight of Sasuke, and Itachi and Naruto who stood beside him. She frowned in confusion. “You’re leaving?”

“No, we’re not!” Sasuke said angrily.

“Yes, they are!” Naruto retorted and tried to scowl at Sasuke – failing though, as his expression just came of as pleading. Tamari looked confused between the two boys as they continued to banter about whether or not the Uchihas were going home.

“Do excuse their little lovers’ quarrel, miss. They’re a bit emotional right now,” Itachi spoke in the voice usually reserved for principals. “Please, resume your work and don’t mind them.”

The girl nodded and buttoned a little girl’s coat before shaking her head as the girl was about to show her ticket.

“No need, Lucia. It’s an emergency.”

Sasuke and Naruto turned simultaneously to look at the little girl. A flicker of recognition showed in her eyes and she smiled timidly.

“Hello Lucia,” Naruto smiled weakly. “Where’s Arrow?”

The girl’s eyes saddened. “The scary black ghost took him away,” she answered into her scarf. Naruto’s eyes softened and he sat down to eyelevel with the girl.

“Well, he’s gonna be fine. Don’t you worry,” the Do-Gooder assured the girl. “I bet he’s going to visit you real soon after you get home.”

The girl smiled weakly and nodded. The girl turned to look at Sasuke. She reached for his hand and as he gave it to her, she discreetly placed something in it. Naruto patted her head adoringly before helping her board the train. A few minutes later Lucia looked out from a window near where they stood outside. She waved from behind the glass and when the elves had their head turned towards another child, she winked at Sasuke. Sasuke opened his hand unnoticeably to see what the girl had put there. In his hand was a ticket.


	21. Chapter 20

Sasuke eyed the ticket in his hand. Lucia’s name was written neatly on in, as was Arrow’s. Though tickets in Yule Land were personalized and he therefor couldn’t use it for anything – especially not with everything going on at the moment – the message was clear; stay.

The train made a last warning call and Naruto’s eyes grew worried. “I really can’t make you leave, can I?” he asked tiredly. Sasuke shook his head determinately. Itachi smiled in amusement as his brother’s display of stubbornness. Naruto sighed loudly and turned to look up at the shadows looming over his town. Then he shook his head at Tamari who immediately got on the train. The Yule Express moved slowly away from the platform at first. Then it picked up speed and was hastily completely out of sight.

“Fine then,” Naruto sighed in defeat. “Let’s go back and see if the Guards have been able to get into Mr. Santa’s house.” Apparently not in the mood for going through the crowded streets again, Naruto teleported them back to where they’d left Tsunade.

The sight that met them reminded Sasuke of the beginning of a big war scene from a fantasy movie. On one side was the house, circled by the Barriers, and on the other stood a line of Guards with Tsunade at the front. Alarming black smoke still emerged from the house. Tsunade’s face was an absolutely terrifying display of pure anger and hatred, her eyes narrowed at the house.

Sasuke spotted Kyuubi standing next to Gaara in Tsunade’s line of offence. It wasn’t until Naruto pulled on his sleeve that he realized that he’d been about to move closer to the intimidating sight. Looking back, he saw Itachi discreetly backing away to stand in the shadow of the houses behind them.

A nasty orange light lit up the windows of the house. The Barriers understood the strange signal and stepped back, breaking their formation. The door was opened and a large body fell out of the house, landing in the snow with a sickening _thump_. A loud gasp emitted from the group of elves and Sasuke realized that he actually recognized the lifeless man in the snow; the long white beard and hair, the red coat and the big belly.

“Mr. Santa,” Naruto whispered in horror and held a hand up to his mouth. Sasuke could feel his trembling through their joined hands. It was too surreal. He still had a hard time believing Santa Clause to be real and now _he was dead??!_ Deadly silence laid over the elves as a tall figure walked out from behind Santa. He had long, greasy, black hair and creepy yellow eyes. If not for the hint of pointy ears behind the hair Sasuke would probably never have guessed this person to be one of _Santa’s little helpers,_ ever. Demon, Troll, Vampire – sure. Elf – no. Whispers around the Guards revealed the man’s name; Orochimaru.

Tsunade was the first to come to her senses. “Orochimaru, explain yourself!”

The man in question smirked, causing an uncomfortable shiver to run down Sasuke’s spine. He walked past the man in the snow as the Barriers formed a circle around him.

“Oh, it’s quite simple,” the man finally said. His voice was even creepier than his appearance and Sasuke felt like his ears were being raped. “I’ve simply made room for the next greater era to begin. It’s time for a revolution.”

“What the hell are you talking about, you freak?” Kyuubi barked from behind Tsunade.

“The time of giving away magic to foolish humans in the form of ridiculous and pointless _gifts_ that we spend far too much time, energy and magic on, is over. We, the elves, have the great potential of being the leading race on Earth, yet we hide in a dark and cold dimension, _and for what?_ So that we can watch humanity destroy the entire planet? Our dense Sarutobi, our _Santa Claus,_ has deceived you all into following his ideology. To not only work hard to earn magic, but to _give it away for free_. And since the magic is given away for free anyway, I see no reason why I, the only logical choice of leader, can’t just take it. And so I will.”

Loud yells from the crowd erupted and several Guards couldn’t contain themselves and jumped forward to attack the man. Sadly, the Barriers’ magic lay like a heavy blanket around Orochimaru and they were flung back.

Orochimaru grinned evilly and reached down under the dead man’s chest. He grabbed the chain around the man’s neck and pulled hard. Holding up the crystal pendant at the end of the string, he smirked once again before disappearing in a globe of light.

All Guards simultaneously turned to look at Tsunade. The look of disbelieve and terror on her face were quickly replaced with a determent narrowing of her eyes. Sasuke had never been around a person with such authority and leadership as that woman, and he couldn’t help but listen to every word coming out of her mouth.

“To the Tower,” she hissed through her teeth. “Stop him before he reaches the Source! Now!!”

All Guards yelled a loud ‘Yes Ma’am!’ and teleported themselves away. The only Guard left was Kyuubi who’d caught sight of Naruto and Sasuke, and was now clearly scouting for Itachi. The older Uchiha nodded in greeting from his spot in the shadows. Kyuubi made his way over to Itachi and the two of them whispered quietly amongst each other.

Naruto’s face was still stained with terrified disbelief. Sasuke rubbed his back soothingly. The blond turned swiftly before he flung himself around the teen’s waist, burrowing his face in the other’s shirt. All around them horrified elves stood, most with tears streaming down their faces, as elves clad in white uniforms sat around the dead man before transporting away with him. Sasuke cringed as he heard a sob from Naruto and kissed the top of his head. Not too far away from them, Ino and Sakura were crying loudly while a pair of male elves tried to comfort them.

Tsunade walked past them all, fire burning in her eyes. A grey-haired man followed her closely. About half of the elves followed as well. Naruto slowly removed himself from his hiding place in Sasuke’s shirt as Kyuubi and Itachi went to stand beside them.

“What now?” Sasuke asked to break the silence. Naruto and Kyuubi exchanged vengeful looks.

“Now we help stop that crazy son of a bitch before he ruins everything our kind has spent more than a millennium creating,” Kyuubi growled.

 


	22. Chapter 21

The Tower stood tall and proudly in the center of town. Sasuke wondered why he hadn’t noticed it at all in the days he’d been there but figured it probably had something to do with the fact that you couldn’t see the top of it until you were standing by its food. A faint light blinked from the Tower, though drowning slightly in the dark smoke erupting from the bricks. The threatening shadows flew around in the air, screeching nastily at the elves. Guards had it surrounded and were trying their best to break the Barriers’ formation around it.

As the Guards continued to fight in vain against the solid magical defense surrounding the Tower, a blinding light shone from the top of the building, as if it was a lighthouse. Tsunade cried out in anger and disbelief, punching her fist into the nearest building.

“He… reached it,” a female elf whispered in horror as the light faded into an orb before disappearing. “He actually absorbed the Source.”

Naruto’s face was pale as the snow he stood on. Loud curses flew through the air until they were interrupted by a manic laughter from the top of the Tower. A dark figure stood on the top, the long dark hair revealing his identity. His entire body glowed with magic, from top to toe. He threw his arms victoriously into the air.

“The time has come!” Orochimaru yelled from his position. “Your worthless leader is gone, and the magic is _mine_. Submit to the new Era!”

All elves fell to their knees simultaneously, clutching their chest as waves of magic left their bodies to join the glowing Orochimaru. The disturbing man now shone almost too brightly to be looked at directly. Several elves cried out in frustration and hatred but couldn’t even get back on their feet as they grew weaker. If Kyuubi’s and Gaara’s looks could kill the whole thing would have been over. Sadly, their eyes didn’t quite live up to the challenge.

Sasuke felt very exposed being virtually the only one still standing but his agitation was quickly replaced with hope as Naruto rose to his feet next to him. A few other elves rose too, including Sakura and Ino who came to stand by Naruto.

Sasuke glanced around at the few standing elves. From the other side of the Tower, came an auburn boy he recognized as Arrow. The boy had a limp to his walk and severe scratches on his face but also wore a determined and vengeful expression. More came from every corner of the surrounding town. They all had the same attractive, cute and trustworthy faces, and Sasuke realized he knew them; they were all Do-Gooders from the Headquarter.

Orochimaru noticed the rise of elves and screamed in angry disbelief, lashing out with his magic but accidentally hitting one of the Barriers in his blind fury. The defense broke immediately and the remaining Barriers looked up at the man in horror and disgust before transporting themselves away, leaving Orochimaru to fend for himself.

“How can you sti-,“ Orochimaru stopped himself as magic lit up like rings of light around each of the Do-Gooders. Pleasant lights emitted from their chests and pendants, growing larger and larger until the snow by their feet shone back like a huge yellow-white blanket.

“After all that time and you still couldn’t figure out our Secret,” Anko said as she emerged from behind her workers. “I know why you tried so hard to get your hands on it, though. It’s because you _know_ that our extra income of magic is what doubles the pool every year before Santa’s takeoff.”

She walked past the Do-Gooders, her light glowing less brightly than her employees but overwhelmingly nonetheless. She went to stand at the front, looking up at Orochimaru in disgust and smugness.

“But you see,” she continued. “Not only have our staff not delivered their load to the Source yet, we also have a different part of our Secret.”

The Do-Gooders surrounded the Tower, creating a blindingly bright circle as they did. Their magic lay parallel to Orochimaru’s and the man twisted and turned to get view of a possible weak spot. Unsuccessfully.

“We only check in about a third of the extra magic to the Source,” Anko’s voice roared in proud defiance. “And so, we would have liked to show our trademark patience and forgiveness by allowing for you to surrender yourself to our obvious superiority. Sadly, that can’t be the case today.”

She held up her hand, the Do-Gooder’s magic intensified, fully ready for an attack. “Because you killed Mr. Santa,” she said hatefully and lowered her hand dramatically. All Do-Gooders’ magic fields flung themselves at the top of the Tower while half of the elves themselves ran for the entrance.

Orochimaru frantically wielded his magic around to protect himself. He scouted the ground desperately as if looking for a way out. His eyes locked on the one standing figure not fighting him; Sasuke. A hateful cry left his mouth as he vengefully flung a fireball of magic at the ground.

The attack flew straight for Sasuke and the teen could do nothing but watch in terror as it closed in on his frozen state. He heard someone cry out his name as his vision was taken in an explosion of whiteness and pain. He fell to the snow just as he heard the last cry of his name, followed by the sound of a brick building collapsing on the ground.


	23. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About this chapter: This chapter will be from Naruto’s point of view. I’m doing the whole chap from his POV but didn’t feel like writing it all in italic, so I’m just telling you now ^_^ Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

 

Naruto called out Sasuke’s name as the teen fell to the ground. He sent a final beam of magic in Orochimaru’s direction before running to Sasuke’s side. The teen lay motionlessly in the snow with his eyes closed. His shirt had a hole scorched through it, and the chest underneath was badly burned. A panic rose within Naruto but he did his best to compose himself. He needed to be in control of his mind to be in control of his powers.

Somewhere Tsunade called for the Do-Gooders to lend her their powers in order for her to ‘bring that bastard down!’. Naruto had never disobeyed the woman before and probably never would again but he couldn’t do as she asked at that moment. There was most certainly enough power in the other Do-Gooders and right now Sasuke needed his help.

Though Naruto always pitied the children assigned to him he’d always enjoyed being there for them. Naruto loved feeling useful, he loved knowing that he made a difference, that someone needed him. He usually loved it. Not now. For once Sasuke needed him and he didn’t like it. Not one bit.

The elf focused all of his magical energy on his hands. As they began to glow he placed them on Sasuke’s charred chest, feeling his eyes burn as the boy was too far away to even flinch. The magic seeped through his fingers and into the boy’s skin.

He could faintly hear the fight behind him but ignored it in order to keep his powers focused on Sasuke. Someone sat down in the snow next to him and Naruto didn’t have to look up in order to know it was Itachi. Waves of worry came off the older Uchiha, motivating Naruto even further.

He could feel Sasuke’s heartbeat underneath his palms. At first it beat in an almost comatose way, far too slowly, but as Naruto’s powers healed the wound and extracted Orochimaru’s magic, it sped up. Sasuke’s brows furrowed but he didn’t wake up. It didn’t matter, though.

“You’re gonna be alright, Sasu-chan,” Naruto told the boy in an almost whisper. He tenderly kissed the boy’s forehead. “I’ll be here when you wake up, ‘kay?”

For the first time in what felt like an eternity Naruto began paying attention to the surroundings. He sighed in relief as Tsunade had Orochimaru cornered on top of the Tower before she grabbed him by the throat with a glowing hand. The man fought for a while but as he was held back and wounded by the Do-Gooders’ magic he finally had to submit to the overwhelming stream of power emerging from the strong woman. With a loud animalistic yell Tsunade threw the now limp man off the Tower. He landed roughly on the ground. A small string of his blood tainted the snow. 

All elves looked up in awe as the female victor jumped off the Tower and landed elegantly next to the black-haired man. She eyed him with great disgust and as Anko came to stand by her side the entire group of kneeling elves rose to their feet.

The white-haired captain of the Guard went to sit by the body. He put two fingers to the man’s throat and waited.

“No pulse,” Kakashi declared before roughly yanking the man’s pendant off its chain. The pendant was black as coal as he threw it at Tsunade who caught it easily. He searched the pockets and found the crystal Orochimaru had stolen from the Santa Claus. Kakashi stood and went to Tsuande’s side. “I guess this is to be yours then?”

The blonde woman eyed the crystal warily. She’d hardly wanted to accept the responsibility of being second in command, Mama Claus. Being Santa was a big deal.

All of the elves looked like they wanted to be celebrating the downfall of Orochimaru but they kept still as the woman silently examined the Santa crystal. She looked at the watch on her wrist. Naruto knew from experience that the watch didn’t show the time. It was a countdown to Christmas. And Santa was scheduled to fly off in two days.

Then Tsunade sighed before attaching the crystal to her own chain. A loud cheer erupted from the crowd of elves. Naruto nodded approvingly. Tsunade knew the job better than Saotobi had anyway and though it pained Naruto to accept that their Santa Claus had passed, he knew that it would be okay. Everything was going to be okay.

Tsunade scouted the crowd with warmth in her eyes before putting on a strict face. “Alright, everybody! We’ve lost A LOT of time. We have to be ready for the day after tomorrow so even though Mr. Santa deserves an eternity of mourning time we’ll have to postpone that until after Christmas. Got it?”

“GOT IT!” the crowd of elves yelled back in unison, smiles on their faces as they went back to work. Naruto tried not to look at Anko as she went to stand beside him. He kept his eyes on Sasuke as his boss put a hand on his head.

“Let’s get that boy back to your house, shall we?” she asked sweetly as she stroked Naruto’s hair. Naruto smiled as he felt the extra magic she poured into him. Holding on tightly to Sasuke’s hand he drew a large circle around the boy, transporting them both back to his room.

It took about two more hours for Sasuke to wake up. Naruto had been playing patiently with a lock of his hair and smiled hugely as the black eyes opened tiredly.

“Where am I?” the boy asked groggily.

“My house,” Naruto answered and helped the boy sit up. A look of alarm crossed Sasuke’s handsome features as his memories returned. He moved to jump out of bed but Naruto pushed him back down firmly.

“What happened?” Sasuke asked, suddenly wide awake. Naruto hushed him and forced a glass of water into his hand.

“I’ll explain later. We won. Everything’s good. That’s what’s most important,” Naruto smiled. The boy opened his mouth to ask another question but Naruto silenced him with a kiss.

“Later,” he grinned. “You need to get completely back on your feet before I’ll drown you in all of the details.”

Taking a sip of water, Sasuke laid back down, opening his mouth once more but shutting it again before shaking his head in confusion as he placed the glass gingerly on the table next to the bed. Naruto laughed softy before snuggling his way underneath the covers. Placing his head in his favorite spot under Sasuke’s neck, he sighed contently as he allowed the other to stroke his hair. Tomorrow would bring tons of questions and a massive load of work but that night he could cuddle close to his favorite human underneath the warm blankets.


	24. Chapter 23

On December 23rd Sasuke woke up early. It wasn’t that he was fully rested – he still felt like his body was five times heavier than normal. It wasn’t that he was awoken by the pain inflicted on him the day before – though his chest was still sore he was hardly bothered by it at all. No, Sasuke was woken up by the loud noise of working elves coming from the street outside.

The town was considerably louder than usually and Sasuke guessed it was probably because of Orochimaru’s setting them back. He groaned at the noise and snuggled closer to the blonde mop of hair under his chin. Naruto’s grip on his shirt tightened as the elf woke up, too. A pair of sea blue eyes opened and looked up at him.

“Morning, Sasu-chan,” Naruto smiled fondly.

“Good morning,” Sasuke answered hoarsely and kissed the elf’s forehead.

“How are you feeling?” Naruto asked with a worried undertone to his voice.

“All better,” Sasuke grinned. Naruto nodded, pleased with the answer. He moved to sit up but was caught by Sasuke who forced him back down with a stern “no.”

“It’s a busy day,” Naruto whined. “I have to get up.”

Sasuke shook his head stubbornly before flipping them over so he was on top, pinning the elf to the bed. Smirking at the elf’s blush he leaned so close their noses were touching.

“No way,” he spoke. “For once you’re not going to work that early. You’re gonna stay here.”

Naruto cocked an eyebrow at him.

“Oh, yeah,” he said teasingly, his breath ghosting over Sasuke’s face. “And what if I don’t want to?”

Sasuke smirked dangerously. “Well, in that case I’ll just have to _persuade_ you.” And before the elf could say anymore he captured his lips hungrily. Naruto grinned before putting his arms around the other's neck to kiss back. Sasuke pried the elf’s lips apart to allow for their tongues to meet before running his hands down the other’s sides, exploring Naruto with his fingers. As he accidentally scraped his fingernail against a bare patch of Naruto’s skin underneath his shirt, the elf moaned softly into his mouth, causing the teen to smirk again against the other’s mouth.

Sasuke left Naruto’s mouth to start sucking on the elf’s neck. Naruto moaned again as the teen bit down on the junction between his neck and shoulder. The elf pulled at Sasuke’s hair, making the human groan into his neck.

Returning to the elf’s mouth Sasuke recaptured eager lips as he was pulled down by Naruto. The kiss was ended abruptly, though, as the crystal pendant around Naruto’s neck began to glow in a yellowish color. The elf sighed irritably as he reluctantly pushed away from Sasuke.

“What now?” the teen groaned.

“Work calling,” Naruto explained with a cute pout on his face. “We should get some breakfast ‘cause apparently Anko wants me in today.”

Sasuke nodded, though still very annoyed he could see the fairness in Naruto having to work just as much as everyone else in town. He half-heartedly pushed himself off the elf and into a sitting position. Naruto got out of bed and snapped himself into his a uniform. Sasuke raised an eyebrow in approval. He might not have been paying much attention to what the other elves had been wearing but that jacket looked damned good on Naruto.

Naruto caught him staring and grinned before throwing a pair of jeans in the boy’s direction. “Come on, Sleeping Beauty. Get dressed.”

Sasuke groaned again before putting on the jeans. He scouted the room for a fresh shirt, stumbling across his favorite black turtleneck. Sniffing it to determine its freshness, he nodded in approval before putting it on.

Entering the kitchen he was met by the sweet scent of cake. He smiled as he saw a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon next to Naruto’s chocolate cake.

“Who told you?” he asked teasingly as he sat down by the plate of actual food. Naruto blushed. “Kyuubi,” he whispered embarrassedly.

“Thanks,” Sasuke said gratefully before digging into his breakfast. Naruto seemed pleased as the boy hungrily ate his breakfast.

“So,” Naruto asked as Sasuke finished the food. “You had some questions yesterday?”

Sasuke looked up eagerly. He’d completely forgotten. “Yes.”

“Ask away,” Naruto grinned.

“Okay. Firstly, what happened after I passed out?” Sasuke asked.

“Um, I don’t really remember it all since I wasn’t paying all that much attention. I was healing you,” Naruto explained. “But what happened in short is that Orochimaru had drained the Source – the place where we drop off the magic we make and earn so that Santa can pick it up before his big annual trip. When you drain the source you automatically take the last bits of magic from the elves in town. That’s why we can’t leave until Christmas is over. What Orochimaru hadn’t taken into account is that we Do-Gooders have secret storages of magic on us – the magic we make when visiting old assignments. We get our magic from the happiness we spread. And so, while Orochimaru _could_ take the magic reserved for the Source he couldn’t steal the magic from the extra storages; because he never figured out how we did it.”

Sasuke blinked as he tried to take in all of the strange information. “So… the Do-Gooders used their secret extra magic to take down Orochimaru?”

“Yes.”

“How? How could they possibly have enough magic if he _drained your source?”_ Sasuke asked incredulously.

“Because like I said, we can’t help visiting old assignments. Just like we can’t just pass by someone who needs our help without offering it. Our nature makes sure we earn a LOT of magic.”

Sasuke nodded. It made a bit more sense, though the whole magic thing was probably far too abstract for him to ever really get it.

“What are you going to do about Christmas Eve. Santa’s dead, right?” Sasuke asked, suddenly wondering why Naruto wasn’t panicking more.

“Yes, Mr. Santa is dead,” Naruto responded sadly. “But his successor will do just fine. Tsunade’s a very competent woman.”

Sasuke stared wordlessly at the boy. “The new Santa _is a woman??”_

“Don’t be sexist, Sasu-chan,” Naruto teased. “Women can be whatever they want to be.” Sasuke laughed.

“Right, sorry,” he grinned.

“It’s fine,” Naruto winked. “Just make sure Tsunade doesn’t hear you say that. Or Anko. Or Ino. Or Sakura. Or Amira.”

“Amira?”

“You’d be surprised. That little lady knows how to throw a punch,” Naruto laughed, sounding like he spoke from experience. Sasuke shook his head in amusement. Naruto eyed him expectantly.

“Any more questions?” he asked.

“Just one,” Sasuke said. “Will you guys be able to get everything done in time for Christmas?”

“Believe it!” Naruto said confidently.


	25. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this is the last "real" chapter of the story since we celebrate Christmas on December 24th (and not 25th). There is an epilogue-chapter that I wrote to sort of make up for it for those whose countdown goes all the way to the 25th ;)

* * *

 

Spirits were high in the town of Yule Land. In the last 15 hours all elves had been working hard and fast to make sure everything would be ready in time. Naruto had had to leave Sasuke alone with Itachi and Kyuubi as he went back to the real world to gather more magic through good deeds. He’d promised Sasuke he’d pay the little Lucia a visit, too.

Sasuke had dreaded spending too much time with their brothers, seeing as it might cause him some severe scars on his soul, but the two did their best to not be all over each other. Itachi was being a pain, though, as he was smothering his little brother whenever Sasuke accidentally flinched when turning too quickly. The injury he’d received from Orochimaru didn’t hurt much – just when he moved. It took quite a bit of convincing to get Itachi to stop worrying but when it finally happened the boy took the opportunity to leave Kyuubi’s house. He’d spent the rest of his time watching the elves work.

Hinata and Kiba had been working hard with the other Tamers to get the reindeer ready for their big trip. The animals now stood proudly at the landing strip by the stables. All elves were gathered as they waited for their new Santa Claus to come. Every elf was standing perfectly in place, lined up with the other elves of the same profession. Naruto stood, perfectly in line with the other Do-Gooders, clad in the same green uniform as the others. He winked at Sasuke as he caught the boy staring. Sasuke grinned back at the elf but didn’t move from his spot next to Itachi in the back.

The sleigh was bigger than Sasuke had ever imagined. It was enormous and with the reindeer added it took up an insane amount of the space in front of the mountain. The elves stood closely together, and Sasuke saw Ino nudge Naruto, whisper something to him before nodding her head in the humans’ direction. Naruto blushed a deep crimson, before saying something to the girl who looked a bit sad at the answer.

Finally a bell chimed loudly and all talking stopped. The elves straightened their backs as a pair of figures walked through the crowd. Sasuke recognized the woman as Tsunade, clad in the trademark red suit. He didn’t know the man walking beside her who winked at a pair of female Do-Gooders which made the new Santa pinch his arm painfully.

Tsunade held up her hand to get the elves attention – which was a very unnecessary action seeing as all eyes were on her.

“Friends,” she called out loudly. “I’m very glad to say that your hard work has paid off. We’re ready in time and Christmas will once again be a reality. I’m very proud of you all.”

A loud cheer exploded from the group of elves, carrying on as the woman made her way onto the sleigh. The man next to her kissed her cheek and went to stand with the Counters. Tsunade waved as the elves began a united countdown.

“10, 9, 8..”

The reindeers stomped hard on the ground, lifting and sinking their legs as they prepared. The new Santa took hold of reins and leaned back against the big sack of presents behind her.

“7, 6, 5, 4..”

Guards spread out to stand in two lines, outlining the path before her as their sleeves lit up.

“3, 2, 1 – Merry Christmas!!!”

The blonde woman cried out a command and the reindeers began to run, faster and faster as their hooves lifted off the ground. A loud applause sounded from the elves and Sasuke couldn’t stop himself from grinning broadly as the sleigh he’d heard stories of in his childhood took off, flying away quickly until it broke though the veil surrounding the town.

The elves stood still for a while before once again chatting loudly amongst each other and breaking their perfect lines. Naruto hurried back to Sasuke’s side, taking his hand and leading him away.

“That was amazing!” Sasuke sighed. Every image he’d imagined when his mother told him about Santa Claus resurfaced in his mind.

“It always is,” Naruto said and smiled at Sasuke’s happiness, then he looked sad.

“What’s wrong?” Sasuke asked worriedly. Naruto shook his head dismissively.

“Nothing,” he lied. “Let’s go home.”

“Yeah the boy needs to get packed before the train leaves,” Anko said as she walked past them, waving tiredly at the two boys.

Sasuke stopped abruptly. “I’m leaving?”

“It’s town policy,” Anko shrugged before rounding a corner and disappearing from their sights. Sasuke looked confused and frantically at Naruto.

“What’s town policy??” he asked.

“Human visitors are always sent home as soon as the sleigh takes off,” Naruto explained sadly. “You have to be on the platform in like an hour or so.”

Sasuke could do nothing but stare at the elf. Naruto sighed. “Look, this time there’s really nothing you can do about it so let’s just… go.”

His grip on Sasuke’s hand tightened as he pulled the boy towards his town. They passed all the merry elves in the streets celebrating. They all looked tired but very much satisfied as they waved cheerfully at the two boys. As they reached Naruto’s house, the elf began gathering Sasuke’s clothes, stuffing them into a bag. Sasuke looked confused at the elf.

“I’m almost all out of magic. You’ll have to carry these by yourself,” the blond explained. Sasuke swung the bag over his shoulder.

“So, you’re not coming until later?” he asked the elf. Naruto bit his lower lip and scratched his upper arm.

“Actually,” he said miserably. “I’m… not coming at all. At least not the way I used to.”

“WHAT?” Sasuke yelled out in surprise. He couldn’t stop himself from pushing the elf up against the wall. “What do you mean you’re not coming back?!”

Naruto eyed him sadly. “I’m sorry Sasu-chan but I can’t. You don’t need me anymore. You’re not sad and you’ve made up with your brother.”

“But I do need you with me,” Sasuke said, voice breaking. Naruto shook his head unhappily.

“No, Sasu-chan. You _want_ me with you,” he said. “You don’t _need_ me. But someone else does and I have to go where they are.”

Sasuke let go of the elf and took a step back, thinking his options through. “And don’t even think about doing something stupid to get in trouble ‘cause if that happens I’m _forbidden_ to come see you. Ever. I might even have to erase your memory then.”

Naruto eyed him cautiously. Sasuke didn’t know what else to say. It wasn’t like he didn’t know the elf had a job to do but he’d never really considered Naruto not being with him. When the teen didn’t say anymore the elf took hold of his hand as he slowly began pulling him towards the door.

“Sorry, Sasu-chan,” he mumbled. “But they’ll drive the train through my house if they have to. Come on.”

Sasuke allowed the elf to drag him out since he couldn’t defy the pleading voice.

Neither of them spoke a word through the trip to the platform. Tamari waited for him by the Yule Express. She smiled warmly at him but sadness was visible in her eyes. She knew.

“Hi,” she greeted politely. “Your brother’s waiting for you on board.”

Sasuke nodded dejectedly. Naruto’s hand tightened in his and the elf looked up at Sasuke with big puppy eyes. Sasuke sighed. He really wasn’t able to stay mad at the Do-Gooder. He opened his arms and the elf rushed into them and wound his arms around Sasuke’s middle. Sasuke returned the embrace, hugging the elf closely as he inhaled the scent of cinnamon.

“I love you,” Naruto whispered into his shirt. “And I really hope you have a long and happy life, Sasu-chan.”

Sasuke held the blond even closer, forcing his eyes to hold back the threatening tears. He wanted to tell the elf he loved him, too, but the he didn’t say a word in fear that he might start crying.

They pulled apart and stared at each other for a while before Tamari coughed behind them. Sasuke went to get on board and looked back at the elf who waved halfheartedly at him. He waved back with just about the same enthusiasm. After taking a final glance back at Naruto, Sasuke walked into the train. The door shut loudly behind him and Tamari looked like she was about to show him to where Naruto’s room was but then she shook her head.

“Let’s go find your brother,” she said and began walking in the opposite direction. The train began to move as they walked through the hall. Entering a room with Kyuubi’s name on it, Sasuke found his brother sitting by the window. Itachi smiled sadly in understanding as Sasuke went to sit across from him. Neither spoke a word the entire trip home.

* * *

 

_A stream of tears ran down Naruto’s cheeks. He sniffed and did his best to compose himself. A large hand was placed in his hair and he looked up to see his brother look down at him. Kyuubi stroked his hair soothingly._

_“He’s gonna be just fine,” the Guard said reassuringly. “They always turn out to be fine.”_

_Naruto nodded sadly. Kyuubi sighed at the boy’s state._

_“Are you going back to Itachi after New Years?” Naruto asked croakily. Kyuubi nodded. “Probably.”_

_Steps sounded behind the brothers and as they turned they saw Anko come up to stand by their side. She threw Naruto a worried look._

_“You really love that one, don’t you?” she asked. Naruto sniffed and nodded. Kyuubi kissed the top of his head in comfort._

_“I honestly don’t get why you’re not following him,” Anko spoke and rubbed her tired eyes. Naruto’s head shut up in confusion._

_“I can’t. The rules, remember?” he said to his boss._

_“Never stopped me,” Kyuubi smiled at him. Anko nodded in agreement. Naruto looked from his boss to his brother._

_“What are you saying?” he asked cautiously._

_The other two looked at each other before grinning at him. Anko placed her hand on Naruto’s shoulder._

_“We’re saying that Christmas can survive without you for a few decades.”_

_Naruto nodded and grinned before turning to run back to his home. He only had about a week until his powers returned, so there was a lot of planning to do for the newborn rule-breaker._


	26. Epilogue

Sasuke did his best to hide the scowl on his face as he was led down the hall of his new school. In his hand was his schedule that told him he was late for Math. His new principal kept a steady pace as she walked him to the classroom, her ponytail wagging wildly as she moved. She looked back to check up on Sasuke who walked behind her. He did his best to walk with his back straight as he could still hear Itachi's warning words in his head;  _Don't mess up._

Easy for Itachi to say, though, Sasuke thought bitterly. He wasn't alone and heartbroken. Kyuubi had returned to him at precisely midnight New Year's Eve. The Guard elf had yet to leave.

Sasuke held back a sigh. He'd done his best to avoid thinking of Naruto since he'd made it back home from Yule Land. Every time he'd accidentally thought of the blond elf his stomach churned and his eyes stung. His bed felt big and lonely now that he no longer shared it with Naruto, he almost cringed every time someone said his actual name instead of 'Sasu-chan', and he looked at the melting snow with deep disappointment. The moment had passed. The magic was gone.

"Here we are, Uchiha-kun," the principal said and adjusted her glasses. "Welcome to our school." With that she opened the door and showed him inside.

"Excuse me," she spoke to the teacher as she entered. Sasuke hated the way all eyes were suddenly on him; the new kid. Just like always. It was a tedious cycle and as far as Sasuke could predict it was only a matter of days before someone pissed him off enough to make him want to kick their ass. The principal explained the situation and the teacher told him to take a seat in the vacant chair in the back.

Sasuke did as he was told. Walking past the other students he ignored the grins and winks of several of the girls. He sat down and placed his bag on the floor.

"Well, why don't you introduce yourself?" the teacher asked with a friendly smile. All eyes were on him again. He sighed.

"My name's Sasuke Uchiha. I'm 16. Just transferred here from Konoha High," he said monotonously. He'd introduced himself  _way_  too many times since the death of his parents. Now the words didn't even sound real anymore. The teacher threw the class a stern look.

The class spoke in responds, "hi Sasuke," "hey Sasuke" "hello Sasu-chan".

Sasuke's head spun towards the familiar nickname. The familiar voice. Sitting in the chair next to his, clad in the same boring uniform as himself, was a pretty blond boy with big blue eyes.

"Naruto?!" he asked incredulously. Naruto nodded and winked at him. Sasuke looked around. Bizarrely enough, the whole class had evidently lost interest in Sasuke and had now returned to their study as if Sasuke had never even entered.

"You're doing that?" Sasuke asked. Naruto grinned smugly.

"Yup."

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke wondered out loud, not at all able to keep a huge grin from forming on his face.

"I'm a new student here, too," the elf explained. Sasuke raised a questioning eyebrow. "Well, someone's gotta make sure you don't mess up, right?"

Sasuke's eyes widened excitedly. "You're back?!"

The elf leaned close, wrapped his arms around the teen and kissed him. Sasuke kissed back eagerly, all thoughts of his new class abandoned. The blond pulled back and stared lovingly into Sasuke's eyes before answering.

"Believe it!"


End file.
